With the advent of new technologies coming upon us,I must admit some of them leave me Quivering with fear.Again "big brother" aka The U.S. Government is attempting to introduce to us (the faithful internet users),a bill called S.O.P.A. in which ISPs (internet service providers) are to release (as i take it) personal usage information on their customers.I would say that scares even me.What i have also been hearing (to some extent)is that even Microsoft,Apple,intel,and a few other companies that came to mind,turned against this bill which seems to constantly grow.Even The Linux News has said something short of condemning that bill entirely.Personally I am beginning to think that the U.S.Government is attempting to Harness The very last frontier and reign in our freedom of speech in fear that our very actions can and would be used against us,even if we didn't do anything wrong!
I am not liking to post about politics so much as it does interfere with technology and how we use the internet.The government is attempting to place restraints on how we communicate with the rest of the world and our own neighbors across the street.I Can respect the idea that copyright infringement does exist (and that happens daily)but basically telling John Q public that they must shut their mouth about expressing themselves in a computer file,and sharing that idea they originally had was a bad idea to begin with.The afore mentioned scenario is a fact,but isn't "THE FACT".The entire idea is to catch "PIRATES" in the act of stealing other people's work.I will give myself as an example here.Lets say I find a piece or article someone else wrote to be of some interest,to post here.. I would attempt to make clear of who's work that is,and at best link only to their site,in order to get the information through without removing their credit due.We were taught in school that making sure the author of such work is owed credit of originality and fact,regardless if it is fact filled or not.If you do not write your own material,Then you must give credit to the article's Author and show links to that effect.
Well,Just last week,a fella in England was extradited to the US for linking other sites to his,for video watching purposes.The supreme court ruled that he was guilty of piracy,simply because he linked other sites to his so others can view free internet TV..The whole situation still seems a bit sketchy at this point.I can say it does seem that If you are going to post anything online (or even discuss anything in a chat room in text) that Government may be lurking and watching you very keystrokes (note that i used the word "MAY" loosely).I am not one to really sound off any Alarms but when i read this,it made me feel as if I should even be afraid to use the internet.Trust me,Twitter is all a buzzed about this.I can recall a time that the internet was a free place to get information without any government intervention.However,it is seeming that due to a few "Bad apples",Government is somewhat tightening the noose on internet USE!
Granted,My qualifications as a IT is currently being worked on.But rest assured My task here is to educate and inform of new technologies (to the best of my ability and i could use some help)to the general public who are disabled and have a yearly income of about less then $30,000.00 US per year.You know the ones.They are on fixed incomes and cannot afford a technician for a technical issue (hardware or software).Our Daunting task is to inform the general public on what technologies are available,What Hardware is around and for what price,What operating systems are available,what the costs are,and what apps work and what doesn't.I found in all my years repairing and building computers for folks,that all these things come into play.It is one thing to show a person how to use their pc,but entirely a differant colored horse,teaching that same person what a computer does.
So,With all of this comming into play,everything computer/technology involved,will be effected by what the government rules are applied to the internet use.All of our smart-phones,iPads,Laptops and notebooks (even kindles and readers) will be effected at one point or another.With this thought,I'd like to conclude that everyone will be effected in one form or another by these rulings from superior court.
This has been the Houlden report for Friday 1-6-2012 Have a happy new year.And hope to see you all next week.This concludes the Houlden report for now.... Bye
Mike Houlden (another tech guy) writer at large
Comments