CISPA: A Warning

Hello readers.

I promise later today to have something nicer up for you all to read, but right now we need to talk.

If you'll recall earlier this year, two bills were put before congress, SOPA and PIPA. These two bills were supposed to help combat piracy but instead they more or less offered the US Government unheard of power over the internet, and the vague definitions would have made the internet a very scary place to be, where freedom of speech couldn't be guaranteed and an entire site could be shut down because of elements out of their control. Thankfully both bills were stopped by an outpouring of support from people across all over the world.

Unfortunately, our rights are under attack once again by a bill that could be even more intimidating.

CISPA, or The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act is a bill that would allow the US government to effectively "spy" on citizens. It has intentionally vague wording that essentially allows corporations the ability to share just about any type of information with the federal government. There are limitations on what kinds of information may be shared, but broad language makes those limitations a moot point. E-mails and private messages through social networks are fair game under this bill. And unlike other cybersecurity bills, nothing in CISPA forces the removal of personally identifiable details. To sum it up, this bill allows private companies the ability to share almost any of your information as long as it pertains to a "cyber threat" which has a broad definition under this bill. It also allows the government to use the information for something other than cyber security. Internet Service Providers could monitor private communication on the internet as well.  This bill is a huge invasion of privacy and puts too much faith in private corporations to safeguard their sensitive user data from intrusion by the government. The government has a wide array of ways to pressure these corporations into sharing large volumes of their users information. There is also no requirement for a company to alert affect users whatsoever.

While, like SOPA, this is a bill with good intentions at it's heart, it is ultimately much more harmful than helpful, the two bills have almost nothing in common, save that they affect the internet.

The problem we face is that this bill has gone largely unopposed up to this point, and it will be going to vote on Thursday, with a decision no later than Friday afternoon. If we don't act quick, CISPA WILL pass. Here's what you can do to stop this harmful legislation from passing:

• Contact your congressman. Call them and let them know what you think. If you don't know how to contact your states congress members by going here:  http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
• Sign the Avaaz petition.  https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_cispa/?slideshow
• Signup for this service that will ship postcards with a message to congress on it. It may be a bit late but you never know.  http://sincerely.com/cause/cispa
• Spread the word immediately, and get as many people as you can to help protest as well.  
• Even if you don't live in the US, this bill will hurt you too. You can help every bit as much as I can. 

We are short on time with this one. But we on the internet could move a mountain if we wanted to. Get on this quickly, and we can stop CISPA from passing. 

Image Sources: 

#1. http://peoplealliance.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/CISPA.png

#2. http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17j92b2rmyov3jpg/medium.jpg

Weekly Wrap Up: A New Format

Before we get started...

Okay, so you know how this blog has been updated here and there with some in depth stories and pieces? Yeah that's changing today. I'm making some changes to make this place somewhere where you can keep coming back all the time to find new stuff to read and listen to. A lot of this will be a work in progress as I go along, and more changes will more than likely to occur. As per the usual, your guys job is to spread the word as much as you can, and mine will be to keep them (and you) coming back for more.

Don't fear though, if you enjoyed what I used to do, those kinds of things will still be here, and I will still be writing new ones. But I felt like I could make this blog somewhere people flock to for the most interesting reading material about video games period. So, let's see how this goes.

- Nolan


...Let it begin.

The reason I almost missed Thanksgiving dinner.

This past week was, for us here in America (ummm....hell yeah?) was Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally Black Friday, the single biggest shopping day in the world. Ridiculous sales are on in every shop and everyone knows it's the best chance they have to haul in huge savings while doing Christmas shopping. Nonetheless the world continued to spin, so here are some of the highlights in news and interesting accomplishments from the past seven days.

South Korea's "Cinderella Law" Goes Into Effect

Fearing the problem that game addiction in a technologically focused country could have on the next generation of Koreans, South Korea has put into effect a law that bans players under the age of 16 from playing online between midnight and six in the morning. The law was drafted in April, and while it initially only covered MMORPGS, the law was extended to cover all kinds of gaming.

The law has met (obviously so) some harsh criticism from various gaming groups. The Korean Association of Game Industry, a massing of fourteen publishers and developers, has called it "excessive prohibition" of a specific group, and reportedly has plans to file a lawsuit.

The obvious reason behind this law is that teenagers should be spending the evening hours sleeping rather then gaming, but the law calls into question the civil liberties of children. And while the Korean government have made their views crystal clear, one has to wonder if this kind of law could spark similar reactions elsewhere in the world. The law also calls into question whose job it is to see that children get a decent amount of sleep, but for now this law is here to stay.

Curious Elder Scrolls Player Finds Entire Continent Beyond Skyrims Borders

One person playing Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim decided he just had to know what lay beyond the invisible boundaries of Skyrim's game world. I'm not entirely sure what he was expecting when he turned no-clip mode on to see what lay beyond Skyrims invisible borders, but I can guarantee he did not expect to find the entire continent of Tamrieal. The player took numerous screenshots as he flew around, seeing such sights as the Vvardenfell volcano and the Imperial City (well, the land area it sits upon anyhow.)

The question now is what exactly are they doing there? The most likely answer is so that when players look out over the horizon, they can see familiar landscape landmarks from past games, to help them feel like they are in the same world as the past Elder Scrolls games, but who knows? Maybe there is some sort of secret Bethesda hasn't let us in on yet.

New Xbox 360 Dashboard Launches December 6th

The title is somewhat self explanatory. Microsoft will roll out it's newest version of the Xbox Dashboard on the 6th. Aside from a sleeker look, the new dashboard will have greater integration for Kinect Voice Recognition. This is also the same day that the Microsoft will be launching some new TV and movie apps, so Xbox users should be paying special attention to this date.

All in all a quiet week overall, but the "Cinderella Law" (as it is apparently being called) that went into effect in South Korea this past week is an obviously important event. South Korea has earned a notorious reputation for how seriously they take their games, and for how long some people play them. But, as stated above, this law causes many questions to appear, and some have no clear answers. I personally find this law a bit of drastic step, and for parents it's somewhat of a slap in the face that the government has decided that they can't keep their children offline. We'll see what kind of an uproar we get from this law in the coming weeks.