How copyright criminalization threatens online innovation

How Copyright Criminalization Threatens Online Innovation - Forbes - Timothy B. Lee:

December 6, 2012 -: "Jerry Brito has pulled together an edited collection of copyright reform essays by libertarians (and one from a pair of libertarian-leaning conservatives) called Copyright Unbalanced.... Jerry’s book promises to be a handbook for free-market copyright reformers....

"I contributed a chapter focusing on a recent development that I find particularly alarming: the increasing use of harsh criminal penalties, including civil asset forfeiture, against online intermediaries....

"In 2008, Congress passed the PRO IP Act, which for the first time allowed the use of civil asset forfeiture in copyright cases. This tactic, which has become infamous due to its abuse in drug cases, allows the police to seize property without convicting, or even indicting, its owner of any crime. The police have used this tactic with devastating effect against startups such as Megaupload, a popular file-sharing site that was shuttered by the federal government in January. The feds seized the Megaupload servers, all the firm’s assets, as well as the personal assets of founder Kim Dotcom. And they have charged Dotcom with criminal copyright infringement and are seeking his extradition from his home in New Zealand."

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2012/12/06/how-copyright-criminalization-threatens-online-innovation/
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Amash slams GOP leadership for purging him without notice | The Daily Caller

Amash slams GOP leadership for purging him without notice | The Daily Caller - Vince Coglianse:

December 5, 2012 - "Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, who has reportedly been removed by Republican leadership from his post on the House Budget Committee, wrote on Facebook Tuesday that he has yet to receive official notification that he has indeed been removed:

"'Rumor has it that I’ve been removed from the House Committee on the Budget. Remarkably, I still have not received a single call, e-mail, or text from Republican leadership confirming this story. In fact, I wouldn’t even have learned about it if not for the news reports. I look forward to hearing from my party’s leadership about why my principled, conservative voting record offends them....

"'Rep. Tim Huelskamp, who was kicked off of both Budget and the Committee on Agriculture, voted with me against the 2013 House budget resolution because it does not sufficiently address the federal government’s debt crisis. That was one of only three times during this Congress that I voted against the Chairman’s recommendations in committee.'"

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/05/amash-slams-gop-leadership-for-purging-him-without-notice/#ixzz2EHo551Dl
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Right Fears ‘Purge’ As GOP Leadership Takes Control | TPMDC

Right Fears ‘Purge’ As GOP Leadership Takes Control | TPMDC - Benjy Sarlin:

December 4, 2012 - "Conservatives fear they’re being pushed aside by Republican leaders as the party looks to regroup from its election losses.

"'At the end of the day we lost seats in the House, we lost seats in the Senate, we couldn’t win the presidency, and the response is to purge conservatives,' Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) said Tuesday during a briefing at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington.

"Huelskamp is one of four Republicans who were stripped of committee seats this week for bucking leadership over the last term. Huelskamp lost his spot on the Budget Committee, where he voted against the House GOP’s budget last year along with Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), who also was removed this week. David Schweikert (R-AZ) and Walter Jones (R-NC), who also voted against the budget from the right, lost seats on the Financial Services Committee....

"Amash, speaking at the same briefing, said he had not received any personal messages or phone calls from leadership announcing his demotion. But he attributed his calls for reduced military spending as the most likely cause for the conflict.

"'I think they are willing to raise taxes to avoid any defense cuts,' Amash said. 'I think they’re willing to take really bad deals to avoid any defense cuts of even a few dollars.'"

Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/right-fears-purge-as-gop-leadership-takes-control.php
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Libertarians Are the Only Hope For American Business to Be Competitive Again

Libertarians Are the Only Hope For American Business, and Republicans, to Be Competitive Again - John Mills, PolicyMic:

December 3, 2012 - "To defeat big government Democrats, business needs to organize a new coalition of libertarians, business, and 'Blue-Dog Democrats.' The Republican Party is fatally connected with the religious right’s rejected social agenda, and so the most plausible way to creating this new coalition is for business to leave the Republican Party and start providing serious financial support to the Libertarian Party.

"This year, majorities of voters in four states approved marriage equality by popular vote. By large margins, voters in Colorado and Washington approved marijuana legalization. This tells us a tipping point has been reached on some serious social issues.... Similarly, The total percentage of Americans who believe abortion should be illegal under all circumstances is only about 20%. When it comes to war, a March, 2012 NY Times-CBS poll found that more than two-thirds of those polled — 69% — thought the United States should not be at war in Afghanistan. The number almost certainly is rising, not falling."

Read more: http://www.policymic.com/articles/20024/libertarians-are-the-only-hope-for-american-business-and-republicans-to-be-competitive-again
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Gary Johnson sets record with Michigan write-in total - San Jose Libertarian | Examiner.com

Gary Johnson sets record with Michigan write-in total - San Jose Libertarian | Examiner.com - Shane Witting::

December 3, 2012. - "Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson has set a record in Michigan, receiving 7,774 write-in votes. The record was previously held by Ralph Nader who received 2,322 write-in votes in Michigan in 1996, running on the Green Party ticket.

"Johnson's vote total exceeded that of Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson, whose name was printed on the ballot and received 5,147 votes. Anderson was placed on the Michigan ballot by the Natural Law Party....

"Johnson would have appeared on the ballot if not for a technicality during the GOP primary season. Johnson's name was placed on the Michigan primary ballot without his knowledge, and was unable to withdraw his name after filing the necessary paperwork minutes past the deadline....

"As of the writing of this article, Johnson and running mate James P. Gray have set a Libertarian Party record with 1,268,869 votes nationwide, or 0.99% of all votes cast."

Read more: http://www.examiner.com/article/gary-johnson-sets-record-with-michigan-write-total
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Will Texas LP work to nullify TSA, NDAA? - Dallas Libertarian | Examiner.com

Will Texas LP work to nullify TSA, NDAA? - Dallas Libertarian | Examiner.com:


"'The Texas Libertarian Party supports nullification of unconstitutional federal acts,' The Texas LP's Kathie Glass told Dallas Libertarian Examiner today. 'We are the only party with a nullification plank in our platform and the only party with statewide candidates who ran on a nullification platform. Unlike secession, nullification is simply a return to constitutional government.'

"On November 12, 2012, reported the Tenth Amendment Center, Texas Rep. David Simpson (R-Longwood) pre-filed House Bill 80 to stop aggressive TSA groping in Texas.

"This was a very popular effort in the 2011 legislature that had broad support from Texas citizens and their elected officials but was stymied at the eleventh hour when the federal government sent officials to pressure the state's top political leaders by threatening to declare the entire state a "No Fly Zone" if they dared pass the bill."

Read more: http://www.examiner.com/article/will-texas-lp-work-to-nullify-tsa-ndaa
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Caution on the Cliff From a Flat-Tax Flagwaver

Caution on the Cliff From a Flat-Tax Flagwaver - The Fiscal Times, Maureen Mackey - November 30, 2012:

"New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, ... the Libertarian Party candidate who received more than one million votes in this year’s presidential election, sent an email to supporters and others on Friday afternoon from his home in New Mexico. He said, “In Washington, their definition of a "cliff" is that government spending will be cut next year by slightly more than $100 billion, if Congress and the president don’t come to an agreement to cut spending by less than that.

"'With a $16 trillion debt and trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see,' he added, 'only in Washington would cutting $100 billion be viewed as an impending disaster'....

"So – 'here we go again,' says Johnson. 'That sound you hear is the can being kicked down the road.' He predicts that after three weeks of 'posturing and posing,' the country’s political leaders will “cut a deal to once again avoid dealing with the disastrous debt problem.'

Read more at http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/11/30/Caution-on-the-Cliff-from-a-Flat-Tax-Flagwaver.aspx#y6dD5xqlJmhHJARk.99
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