30 Diverse Organizations Support Internet Tax Moratorium

The group includes: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., the Latino Coalition, National Association of Neighborhoods, Women Impacting Public Policy, League of United Latin American Citizens, National Black Chamber of Commerce, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, National Hispanic Council on Aging, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging, Inc. (source infra)

Ban Internet Taxation, Says Diverse Group to Hill | Politic365: "A bi-partisan group of multicultural stakeholders united in asking congressional leadership to permanently extend the moratorium on Internet taxation by passing the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (H.R. 3086) and the Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act (S.1431). In a letter addressed to Congressman Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Senator Ron Wyden, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, Ranking Member of the House Communications & Technology Subcommittee, and Senator John Thune, Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee, the group petitioned Congress to pass the twin bills prior to the August recess to avoid any uncertainty that may arise around Internet taxation should the current ban expire on November 1, 2014...."

Wide Support for Internet Access Tax Moratorium: "The Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998 was designed to promote the growth of the Internet by placing a moratorium on state and local taxation of Internet access and the creation of discriminatory taxes on emails and other data. The moratorium is set to expire in 2014, but two proposals being considered in Congress, the Senate’s Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act and its companion bill in the House, the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, would permanently extend the ban on Internet access taxes. Neither of the bills being considered or the moratorium exempts Internet sales from general state sales taxes. Making the Internet access tax moratorium permanent is a necessary step in promoting wider access to the Internet while keeping the cost down and eliminating discriminatory taxes. As the Internet has become one of the driving forces behind economic growth across the United States, ensuring affordable access for businesses and consumers is crucial. An online petition sponsored by MyWireless.org calling on Congress to permanently ban taxes on Internet access has drawn over 44,000 signatures...."

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Stephen Colbert, the NSA, Edward Snowden

"As for the NSA, he said that the agency showed that if you gave an organization unlimited budgets and no oversight the results were always fantastic. The NSA had built up an incredibly powerful and sophisticated organization that could be completely pwned by a 29-year old with a thumb drive."(source: The Register)

Watch Stephen Colbert lambast the NSA and Snowden at security conference | The Verge: "Stephen Colbert delivered his somewhat controversial keynote speech at the annual RSA security conference Friday, and took the opportunity to lambast the NSA, Edward Snowden, and Mt. Gox, and launch his own "Cloud Fog" security service. "We can trust the NSA," explains Colbert, "because without a doubt it is history's most powerful, pervasive, sophisticated surveillance agency ever to be totally pwned by a 29-year-old with a thumb drive." The full keynote isn't yet available at RSA's website, but YouTube is full of excerpts uploaded by attendees."

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Edward Snowden says NSA Spies More on Americans Than Russians

Edward Snowden: NSA Spies More on Americans Than Russians - NationalJournal.com: "..."U.S. government policy directed by the NSA ... is now making a choice, a binary choice, between security of our communications and the vulnerability of our communications," Snowden said, suggesting the government was biased toward the latter activity. The former NSA contractor was awarded the Ridenhour Award for Truth-Telling along with Laura Poitras, one of his chief confidants. The 30-year-old fugitive remains in Russia, where he fled and earned temporary asylum following his disclosures of classified information about the NSA's bulk data-collection practices. Poitras also beamed into the ceremony from Berlin. The documentary filmmaker is believed to be one of only two people—along with journalist Glenn Greenwald—to possess the entire cache of Snowden files. The two collectively lambasted both the Senate and House Intelligence committees for what they said was a failure of sufficient oversight of the intelligence community. Snowden also said he believed the Judiciary committees were more likely to enact substantive surveillance reform, and noted his support of the USA Freedom Act, a bill that would end much of the government's bulk collection of phone "metadata." Snowden, who has also been nominated this year for the Nobel Peace Prize, was a natural choice for the Ridenhour award, which has honored in recent years journalist and undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas and Thomas Drake, a former NSA official who also exposed secrets kept by the spy agency...."

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Russian Law to Restrict Online Freedom

Russia: Veto Law to Restrict Online Freedom | Human Rights Watch: "Russia should not impose unjustified regulations on freedom of expression and privacy on the Internet, Human Rights Watch said today. A restrictive new law requires Russian bloggers with significant followings to register with the authorities and comply with the same regulations as media outlets. On April 22, 2014, Russia’s State Duma adopted amendments to counter-terrorism legislation, including a new law on “Internet users called bloggers.” The law requires bloggers with more than 3,000 daily visitors online to register withRoskomnadzor, the state body for media oversight. Once registered, bloggers will have the same legal constraints and responsibilities as mass media outlets, including verifying information for accuracy, indicating the minimal age for users, protecting information pertaining to people’s privacy, and being subject to restrictions on propaganda in support of electoral candidates. Bloggers could also be held responsible for any comments posted by third parties on their website or social media page. “This law demands that bloggers abide by the same restrictions as mass media without giving them the same protections and privileges,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This is another milestone in Russia’s relentless crackdown on free expression.”..."

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Former Comcast, Verizon Attorneys Run FCC, Want to Kill the Internet

This one is on Obama --

Former Comcast and Verizon Attorneys Now Manage the FCC and Are About to Kill the Internet | VICE United States: "Many have expressed shock that the Obama administration would walk back one of its biggest promises. On the campaign trail, Barack Obama said that he is a strong supporter of net neutrality. During a question and answer forum in Iowa, Obama explained, “What you’ve been seeing is some lobbying that says that the servers and the various portals through which you’re getting information over the Internet should be able to be gatekeepers and to charge different rates to different Web sites … And that I think destroys one of the best things about the Internet—which is that there is this incredible equality there.”"

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