Yesterday I went to the New York Public Library to see Pedro Almodovars "Talk to her", as part of a <a title="https://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/12/06/films-pedro-almodovar" href="https://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/12/06/films-pedro-almodovar" target="_blank">series</a> of Almodovars films screenings in the NYPL. But, to my surprise, the screening (and remainder ones) had been cancelled.
I talked to the person in the information desk, and she told me that the collecting society (that would be the despicable SGAE, which does not even deserve a link in my blog) and Almodovar`s Production company (El Deseo Producciones) had raised what they had previously been asking for as royalties or compensation for the (free) screening of the (not in movie theater) films, and the amount they were now asking was so high, the NYPL could not afford it, so they had to cancel the screenings.
Last Saturday I went to the ArtHack Exhibit closing party at 319 Scholes St, Brooklyn (New York).
Located in an industrial complex in Brooklyn, at night, loooong two blocks from the subway, graffiti all over, small door… that gave way to heaven: young (I was the oldest hacker in that space, but I did not feel that way) energetic happy people tinkering with technology and proudly showing their “toys” (hacks, mashups, creations, or whatever).
I just installed RePress: This plug-in enables you to magically uncensor any website on the internet from your own WordPress installation. Why and How.
Thanks to Sara, there is a very easy way to add code to your site to protest against SOPA:
Drop the following code in between your two tags on your site, your users will be redirected to the blackout page that describes what you are doing and why.
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Then, when the protest is over, simply remove the added code. The protest is starting at 12am on 1/18, and lasts 24 hours.
<div> Today, the Wikipedia community <a title="w:en:Wikipedia:SOPA initiative/Action" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Action">announced its decision</a> to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the <a title="Press releases/English Wikipedia to go dark" href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/English_Wikipedia_to_go_dark">statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here</a>). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States—the <a title="w:en:Stop Online Piracy Act" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Stop_Online_Piracy_Act">Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)</a> in the U.
The USA has become the largest exporter of censorship.
Based on wrong beliefs, manipulated data, and self-declared ignorant politicians, their legislative body cooks up a law designed to restrict competition, serving the interests (apparently, although as any freshman Economics student will tell you, that is not really the case) of an oligopoly of media-(sic)culture megacorporations that would not recognized the present (not to say “future”) if it hit them in the face, represented by multi-million dollar copyright infringers, while stomping on basic citizens` rights (not that they seem to care anyway, since they allow such basic rights violations as warrantless GPS monitoring, or unlimited incarceration without trial).
Ego, money, power, abuse, restriction… shame on those who stain the “holy” teachings.
Source: NYT.
