First POST: Spirit Guide
BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, September 13 2013
Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribersHow the NSA's programs may cost US tech businesses overseas; one Obama campaign tech guru's cryptic vision of the future; Tea Leaf Nation finds a new home; and much, much more. Read More
The Fight To Rein In National Security Surveillance -- Will This Time Be Different?
BY Sarah Lai Stirland | Tuesday, July 23 2013
Verizon Wireless is one of the phone companies that has worked with the NSA, according to The Guardian.
When members of the House vote on a controversial amendment to curtail the National Security Agency's big data approach to domestic terrorism Wednesday evening, it'll be a big test of sorts of modern day Internet-empowered activism. Read More
On Eve Of Celebration of Freedom In the U.S., Declaring New Freedoms for the Net
BY Sarah Lai Stirland | Monday, July 2 2012
Free Press is leading a coalition of users and advocacy groups to prevent incursions on Net freedom
A coalition of Internet freedom advocates on Monday launched a new push to preserve what they say are some of the fundamental characteristics of the Internet as we have known it over the past two decades. Read More
Mike Masnick: Accidental Activist to Some, "Demagogue" to Others
BY Sarah Lai Stirland | Thursday, May 10 2012
Mike Masnick, founder and CEO of Techdirt and Floor64, Photo: Flickr/Dennis Yang
Mike Masnick runs Techdirt.com, one of the most popular hubs on the web for news and opinion about innovation policy and the Internet. His uncompromising views on copyright have made him one of the most controversial and widely-read voices in a sprawling international conversation about the future of creative industry. Read More
First POST: All Shook Up
BY Miranda Neubauer | Thursday, March 22 2012
Photo: Flickr/DonkeyHotey
Today's news: A round-up of reactions to Romney Adviser Eric Fehrnstrom's comment about campaigns being like Etch-A-Sketch; Nielsen shares its findings about the demographics of the presidential candidates' online audience; a look at Harry Potter activism; more on Kony 2012; and New York City wants to run its own TLD. Read More
With Newfound Influence, Will Internet Organizers Hack Politics As Usual?
BY Sarah Lai Stirland | Monday, January 30 2012
MPAA Chief Chris Dodd should perhaps talk to the public via Reddit, rather than the "tech industry." Photo: Flickr/Wil Wheaton
The recent mass protests both online and off against anti-piracy legislation moving through Congress provided a tantalizing hint of the possibilities that can emerge when the powerful companies of Silicon Valley combine forces with grassroots organizers empowered with the tools of the web. Individuals from the usually disparate worlds of non-profits, venture capital, politics and programming and elsewhere united briefly for one day, took direction from more experienced activists and used the tools at their disposal to pull whatever levers they could to get their message across to legislators. Will the extraordinary success of the protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) change the one industry that has resisted the disruptive influence of the internet, the industry of lobbyists on K-Street? Or will the moment pass — to be regarded in history as quirky exception to the general rule in which lobbyists almost always emerge triumphant? Read More