If you thought SOPA and PIPA was bad… 

 there is an even bigger threat out there, and our global movement for freedom online is perfectly poised to kill it for good.

ACTA - a global treaty - could allow corporations to censor the Internet. Negotiated in secret by a small number of rich countries and corporate powers, it would set up a shadowy new anti-counterfeiting body to allow private interests to police everything that we do online and impose massive penalties — even prison sentences — against people they say have harmed their business.

Europe is deciding right now whether to ratify ACTA — and without them, this global attack on Internet freedom will collapse. We know they have opposed ACTA before, but some members of Parliament are wavering — let’s give them the push they need to reject the treaty. Sign the petition — we’ll do a spectacular delivery in Brussels when we reach 500,000 signatures.

It’s outrageous — governments of four fifths of the world’s people were excluded from the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations and unelected bureaucrats have worked closely with corporate lobbyists to craft new rules and a dangerously powerful enforcement regime. ACTA would initially cover the US, EU and 9 other countries, then be rolled out across the world. But if we can get the EU to say no now, the treaty will lose momentum and could stall for good.

The oppressively strict regulations could mean people everywhere are punished for simple acts such as sharing a newspaper article or uploading a video of a party where copyrighted music is played. Sold as a trade agreement to protect copyrights, ACTA could also ban lifesaving generic drugs and threaten local farmers’ access to the seeds they need. And, amazingly, the ACTA committee will have carte blanche to change its own rules and sanctions with no democratic scrutiny.

Big corporate interests are pushing hard for this, but the EU Parliament stands in the way. Let’s send a loud call to Parliamentarians to face down the lobbies and stand firm for Internet freedom. Sign now and send to everyone you know.

Please sign the petition and reblog to alert others! 

watertightvines:

And without the so-called piracy, you would never have discovered or gotten into it to begin with.

Most notably Wicked. I illegally downloaded ‘Defying Gravity’ and loved it so much, I legally bought the entire soundtrack, the novel, Wicked: The Grimmerie, a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hit Broadway Musical and saw the show three times (twice in Melbourne and once in Adelaide), where I bought a program, 2 T-shirts, a pin, 2 magnets, a hoodie and a snow-globe.

I think that’s what you call a NET-PROFIT.

The Australian Government is currently considering passing legislation that will undermine the human rights of Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

The “Stronger Futures” legislation will maintain many parts of the Northern Territory Intervention; a policy that has attracted United Nations condemnation for its racial discrimination against Aboriginal people and their cultures.

It will grant complete Commonwealth control over townships and camps. It will increase punitive measures and alcohol bans, while slashing funds to vital jobs programs. And it will expand a failed program that quarantines welfare payments based on school attendance.

The government should withdraw this legislation.

It has been developed without the free, prior and informed consent of Aboriginal communities, and it will give the Government 10 more years of control.

Aboriginal Elders, community leaders and Aboriginal organisations across the Northern Territory have opposed the legislation, and are demanding the right to control their own futures. Years of this top-down policy-making by the Government have taken power away from communities and have overseen increasing poverty and social breakdown.

Since the Northern Territory Intervention started in 2007:
- Incarceration of Aboriginal people has increased by 41%
- Attempted suicide and self-harm amongst Aboriginal youth has doubled
- Aboriginal life expectancy continues to be the lowest of any Indigenous group on the world.

The Government should give Aboriginal people the right to control their own futures.

Please sign the petition, and ensure the Government withdraws the legislation in its current form.

Please sign the petition and reblog to spread the word!

amantesuntamentes:

this petition was created by Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton (Trayvon’s parents). Please sign.

(Source: inothernews, via stfuconservatives)

for those who send me messages

and lastly for those who reblog my pictures

(Source: , via kat-adrianmiller)

Going on my 27th year…

(Source: unslain, via kat-adrianmiller)