Thoughts on Internet

So a Senate Committee approved of a rather controversial bill today, and it will moving into the voting phase soon. The bill is known by most as the IP Act, the IP standing for intellectual property. It is, obviously, an anti-piracy bill designed to give private parties and the US gov an upgrade in their legal recourse when it comes to combating piracy. If the bill becomes a law, a website that  has copy write infringing content on it, Private parties or government entities can seize the website and all its assets with a simple court order. That tenant applies to domains located in the US. For foreign websites that have copy write infringement, the private parties or government can force search engines like Google to removed the website from their search engine, force Internet Service Providers to black list the sites, making them inaccessible to their customers. Lastly, they can force Advertisement and payment services such as Ad-Sense and Paypal to remove any ads or payment service from the website. This bill would strike a serious blow to the movement for an Internet uncensored by governments and corporations. It has been supported heavily by many large corporations in the TV, Motion Picture and Music industry. While many view it as an Anti-Piracy bill a large group of people fear the eventual abuse of the powers granted through this bill. Anonymous has already planned an attack on some government websites and what not. I think them taking a stand on a lot of issues lately is pretty cool. I think that sometimes they may be a little but over the top, and misdirected. Most of the time though their "attacks" are pointed and relevant. I have to agree that Internet censorship is a very bad thing, in countries like China and Egypt it has run rampant, but I think the seeds of similar systems are being planted right here in America. I think the whole piracy is rather ridiculous. I remember getting into an argument with my economics teacher from high school about it.  We went back and forth about whether or not it was stealing. Eventually I conceded that it was technically stealing, but it was so rampant and uncontrollable that it has become socially acceptable. It kind of comes back to the whole tragedy of the commons thing. If the individual makes the decision to not "illegally" download music, good for them and their morals. Millions of others will continue to have free music and the individual has to pay cold hard cash for his tunes, while the piracy continues to raise prices for him/her. Basically what is the point of not doing it.
To sum it all up, I don't want the government to choose what parts of the Internet I am able to see. Down with censorship!



-Kyle Griffith McChesney

Thoughts on the 2am "Midnight Snack"

First of all I want to know who coined the phrase "midnight snack". Franky, I find it to be a narrow and close minded phrase. It is only usable in one time sensitive situation. I personally enjoy my late night snacks around 2 am. My suggestion for anyone up at that late hour would be to pop in a pair of blueberry pop-tart delights and find the largest cup in your whole house. Fill the cup with delicious cow juice (milk). Now listen up, this is the important part, take a small sip of milk but do not swallow it, then take a bite of pop-tart while the milk is still in your mouth. Let the milk and pop-tart parts mix together, they join together to form the most delicious taste in the entire world. Next step is to chew and swallow the pop-tart / milk concoction. Repeat as necessary. My favorites are blueberry pop-tart, with wild berry coming in a close second place, and of course SKIM milk. I despise whole milk with a fiery passion, it is like adding mayonnaise to skim milk...and do not get me started on mayo...
A rap song....that is a first for the blog. I listened to Jedi Mind all day at work today. No there is nothing gangster or hood about working at Target.



-Kyle Griffith McChesney