An alternative: How to solve online piracy

Recently there has been a lot of fervor over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). Each law gives the government more power over the internet. 

OpenCongress described PIPA as follows:

“[This law] establishes a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be "dedicated to infringing activities." The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against the alleged infringer and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. In some cases, action could be taken to block sites without first allowing the alleged infringer to defend themselves in court.”

OpenCongress described SOPA as follows:

“This bill would establish a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be dedicated to copyright infring[e]ment. The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against any site they deem to have "only limited purpose or use other than infringement," and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. It would also make unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty up to five years in prison. This bill combines two separate Senate bills -- S.968 and S.978 -- into one big House bill.”

There is a bill proposed by some of the opposition, called the OPEN Act. I am not a fan of that legislation, but I don’t want to use up words trying to show my opposition to it. There is a different approach proposed.

The Pirate Party, a political party with roots internationally in countries such as the United States, Sweden, Scotland, Canada and the United Kingdom. The international website argues that “All non-commercial copying and use [of copyrighted material] should be completely free. File sharing and p2p networking should be encouraged rather than criminalized.” The group also criticizes the current copyright terms, saying they are absurd and that “nobody needs to make money seventy years after he is dead.” The alternative they propose is “a five years copyright term for commercial use.” Passionately, they argue for “a complete ban on DRM technologies, and on contract clauses that aim to restrict the consumers' legal rights.”  The UK-based political party offshoot follows a similar line, arguing for balanced copyright law. Their website is a bit more descriptive mentioning that the party would support peer-to-peer networks (which the party says supports lesser-known artists) and a right to a “format shift” (copying data from a CD to a portable media device). However, they note that “counterfeiting and profiting directly from other people's work without paying them will remain illegal.” That last provision could run up against those who want to help others.  There is no definite website for the United States pirate party, but their LinkedIn website gives some insight. That website says that want “abolition of the DMCA and related subsequent provisions within copyright law…rejection of the concept of online piracy…reform of copyright…abolition of Digital Rights Management…[and] reform of trademark.” 

I believe that Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) must be repealed and that non-commercial copying and use of copyrighted materials should be allowed. The government must not use the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement or any other government agency to shut down parts of the internet. This would hurt the sharing of information that current occurs. Big Music would obviously oppose this measure since pirating would be partly legalized but that must be overcome. If these measures were enacted, then piracy online would fall because it would be legal instead. I do not advocate for making it legal for people to pirate and then copyrighted materials of others for a profit or the counterfeiting of goods for a profit. However, counterfeiting of goods that do not cause bodily harm should be allowed or should be focused on by authorities. Those counterfeited goods that cause bodily harm should be focused on by law enforcement.

The software piracy rate was 20% in the United States in 2007, #107 of 107 (nationmaster.com).  In Spain, according to Hollywood Reporter, it is much higher, being “over 77% of the digital content consumed in Spain in the first half of 2011 was pirated, marking a .4% climb from the same period to previous year [and] more than 98% of all digital musical content was downloaded illegally.” In 2010, DailyTech reported that peer-to-peer network piracy rates were 9-13%.  While efforts at trying to cut piracy on the internet like shutting down LimeWire (2010) and Megaupload (yesterday) have seemed to limit the amount of those downloading, people are moving to other sources such as YouTube. One major reason for this approach is because people support legalizing music online.

In 2003, a CBS News /New York Times poll asked 675 adults nationwide (18-30+ years) a number of questions on this topic. An even smaller amount answered the question about music file sharing. When asked "When it comes to sharing music over the Internet for free, which comes closest to your view?” An average of about 17% of all respondents, those 18-29 and those 30 and older said downloading music is always acceptable. Average of 43% of those from same groups said that downloading music should be sometimes acceptable. An average of about 35% said that sharing is never acceptable and about 3% said they didn’t know. The support for downloading was across the board. A poll the same year by the FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll of 900 people was a bit more promising. 61% of those 18-34 approved of “approved downloading music over the Internet” and only 35% disapproved of it. However, as age increased, people became more opposed to the idea (probably because they got paranoid or just wanted the status quo). Of those people 32% had downloaded music over the internet without a fee.  A poll of 2,600 Americans in 2007, reported by MSNBC stated an interesting conclusion. They wrote: “Only 40 percent of Americans polled…agreed that downloading copyrighted movies on the Internet was a "very serious offense."… 59 percent of Americans polled considered "parking in a fire lane" a more serious offense than movie downloading.”  

The approach of legalizing downloading is supported by a good mass of the people in every method, rising substantially from 2003 to 2007. On the other hand, Chris Dodd, a major lobbyist for MPAA, which wants this piracy laws in place, says that DMCA did not “break the Internet…deprive anyone of freedom of speech at all. And…did not curtail or stymie creative innovation in new technology.”(Hollywood Reporter) That’s what Big Music says. Privacy Digest had a different tact, writing about erroneous DMCA claims because of the problem in copyright enforcement. Part those problems stem from a component of DMCA, DRM or Digital Rights management. The website explains that DRM “restricts users' ability to share content or to consume it in a proscribed manner…has been largely disliked by end-users…creates a poor user experience and interferes with expected rights (under fair-use doctrine) [and allows] copyright infringement notices are needed precisely after "unprotected" content has already [disappeared].” 

Another website comments in the same vain. Questioncopyright.org notes that criminalizing downloads is not practical because there is a lack of jail cell space and “erodes one's civil liberties.” The major reason is because a phone could be tapped, a house could be put under surveillance and a computer could be seized. In addition, these measures have been used to “censor free speech when that speech is [contrary] to a copyright holder's financial interests” and has negatively affected researchers. Original copyright law, the cite notes, commercial transactions were prohibited but after the DMCA passed, then commercial and non-commercial actions were banned. As the website predicts, DMCA may have been just the beginning of a hard-nosed approach toward copyright, with the possibility of outlawing of peer-to-peer networks in the future. 

A few months after the legislation was passed in February 2001, Robin D. Gross commented on DMCA. On imaginelaw.com, he wrote: “On the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) took full effect, criminalizing the act of circumvention of a technological protection system put in place by a copyright holder -- even if one has a fair use right to access that information.” 

Two years ago, the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote on DMCA as well. They wrote on its unintended consequences, in an article titled “Unintended Consequences: twelve years under DMCA” criticizing the law itself: “anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA have been invoked not against pirates, but against consumers, scientists, and legitimate competitors…Section 1201 has been used by a number of copyright owners to stifle free speech and legitimate scientific research…a number of prominent computer security experts curtailed their legitimate research activities for fear of potential DMCA liability…the movie studios effectively obtained a "stop the presses" order banning the publication of truthful information by a news publication concerning a matter of public concern...The DMCA, however, prohibits the creation or distribution of these tools, even if they are crucial to fair use...Until 2007, authorized digital music download services also utilized DRM systems that frustrated fair use expectations, and technical restrictions remain common for subscription services…The DMCA has frequently been used to deter legitimate innovation and competition, rather than to stop piracy…The DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions have also threatened to displace "computer intrusion" and "anti-hacking" laws, something that Congress plainly never intended…Years of experience with the "anti-circumvention" provisions of the DMCA demonstrate that the statute reaches too far, chilling a wide variety of legitimate activities in ways Congress did not intend…hindering the legitimate activities of innovators, researchers, the press, and the public at large.”

Panix.com takes a different approach. They note that “Under the old pre-DMCA copyright law, buyers of books, albums, and movie tapes had many rights [called fair use]:

1.  You may make copies for your own use.

2.  You may lend books, albums, and movies to your friends.  You may read a book aloud with your children.  You may invite friends over to dance to the music of your album.  You may view your movie with friends.  You may stand  in front of a room full of students and read the book, and you and the students may talk about the book.

3.  If you are a library, you may buy one copy of a book, and lend it out for free to anyone with a library card.  You may do the same with an album and also with a movie.

4.  You may make copies of parts of the book, the album, and the movie, in order to discuss it, to make fun of it, and even incorporate the part in a new work.

5.  You may sell the book, album, or movie to anyone you wish.

6.  Any time you want to read the book, listen to the music, view the movie, you may, without paying one cent more to the copyright holder.  You may do these things as often as you want.”

 As you can see, the current approach to piracy is not a good one. If the approach gets out of control with new laws such as SOPA or PIPA it is possible that like Russian entertainment producers cited by Hollywood Reporter, the U.S. government will ask Facebook to take down its copyrighted videos that are uploaded to its site. If the government doesn’t ask, it could possibly forcibly shut down Facebook (or parts of it in retaliation for non-compliance. In Spain a current law like SOPA is being proposed and it is unlikely what effect it will have but it is almost certain that Big Music and the entertainment industry will use it in their own efforts to push for more government control over the internet. Howard Zinn writes in his book, A People’s History of the United States quotes Grover Cleveland’s attorney general, Richard Olney, talking about the Interstate Commerce Commission. Olney explains: “The Commission…is or can be made, of great use by railroads. It satisfies the popular clamor for government supervision of railroads, at the same time that supervision is nominal…The part of wisdom is to not destroy the Commission, but to utilize it.” The same is true today with the internet. If the government regulated the internet, then it is possible that there would be collusion with industry just like with the Interstate Commerce Commission. As questioncopyright.org points out, artists, software engineers and others can still make money if there is more freedom of information like the ideas I have proposed. Garden State Community College’s website it states: “There is a great deal of debate about the DMCA and copyright law in the digital age.   If you disagree with the law, learn more about it and become involved in trying to change the law.” I hope you follow that advice and try to change copyright law it for the better, in a way that would benefit the citizenry at large, not the entertainment industry since this issue will affect every person that uses the internet. 

By Burkely Herman, Chief Correspondent

The America you don’t know: elitism and pluralism

In the multifaceted American political system, the elite theory and pluralism theory can be combined to explain the political process. Special interest groups, the reemergence of the elite, the phenomenon of the apolitical and political stratum and default of compromise have been changed with the age of mass global communication. In America, people think about politics as two different aspects. First, the political spectrum presented by mainstream media. Secondly, the idea that it doesn’t matter if they participate and government doesn’t affect them at all. The current economic crisis changed the complex political system by shaking government and consumer confidence. However, even with these changes political scientists Robert Dahl and C. Wright Mills are both right in some sense. Military elite, corporate elite and interest groups remain powerful. Americans are divided into political and apolitical strata while compromise is the basis of this democracy. On the other hand, the current age has proven Dahl and Mills wrong. Educational and religious institutions are really separate; leaders often only care about themselves.  24/7 News has born with the advent of more technology and dissatisfied people are creating groups to address their grievances.

Certain groups dominate the modern political scene. People’s needs are ignored at times while the small groups of lobbyists are appeased by government officials. Interest groups have the power in national, local and state politics to force people inadvertently to choose a side on a law or proposed policy. Since the Obama Administration has been in office, influence of special interests has played out on the floor of Congress in two different instances. Healthcare reform in 2010 was supposed to bring healthcare to more citizens, but people were forced to buy private insurance. The law was an uneven proposal because it was almost co-written by the industry, contradicting the point of the bill: to stop the abuses of the healthcare industry. Later that year, a major financial reform bill was signed into law, trying to stop another economic crisis. Like the healthcare law, the bill was supported by of lobbyists from Wall St, an institution the law was trying to limit. It’s easy to see that Congress is run by lobbyists since its makes it hard to get reforms passed. Also it has become extremely easy for the elite to manipulate members of the federal legislature or any other part of the federal government.

The elite have reemerged in the American political woodwork. Mr. Mills’s vision in The Power Elite of separate corporate and military elite is true. These “leaders” still occupy high positions of power and use fearmongering as a common tactic. The corporate overlords distract public with entertainment news, something that’s not important to their well-being. In addition, they convinced the government to approve certain mergers while lessening regulation so their profits can increase dramatically. Meanwhile, the influence of the military elite in Congress has caused cuts to not be enacted even as their bureaucracy is becoming a hazard to America’s financial stability. Through the continuation of certain wars, a permanent war economy is maintained and endless war could become a reality. Therefore, corporate and military elite coalesce, creating an interlocking power structure. This country is going bankrupt from expenses that help the military and corporate overlords prosper. One prominent example is private military contractors in foreign countries that outnumber U.S. troops. On another note, the mainstay of the military elite, the Pentagon is so centralized that it can’t account for ¼ of what is spent. Furthermore, “Too Big to Fail” corporations dominate the economy while people across the nation are divided into two major political groups.

 Robert Dahl wrote about in Who Governs?, the division of people into different strata in America’s political arena. Politically active people protest injustice while inactive people accept injustice. In the apolitical stratum is characterized as people blindly ignorant of political issues and those who think politics is not important to them. At the same time, the political stratum is the polar opposite with motivated citizenry want to go out on the street. These people encourage others to get involved through the blogosphere and other means. Even so, the small supposedly-united groups called the “Tea Party” are just another aspect of the apolitical spectrum. Those that participate in these groups mostly have inconsistent opinions and ideologies. For example, many in these groups are against government healthcare, yet they support programs like Medicare, a blatant contradiction. These weakly-informed citizens try to inject themselves into the political mainstream but are mostly unsuccessful, ridiculed by many others. Despite this, overall political awareness has grown in recent years with more young people are getting involved in process whether that is in voting, protesting or blogging. The 2008 election was highest turnout for young in a very long time, but it doesn’t change the reality of compromise in the United States.

The default of compromise is accepted by almost everyone talking about politics or trying to get their point across. It is a time of divided government and the citizens want everyone in Congress to work together. However, many bills have favored wealthy and privileged class of society. America is a country founded on compromise. In the Constitutional Convention of 1787, two compromises were made between the delegates: the three-fifths compromise and the great compromise. This created the mentality that everything must be solved by going for the middle road, taking all ideas into consideration. This isn’t always the right pathway as the idea you may be accepting could be wrong and horrible policy. Despite this, the Senate’s limit of 60 has made agreement required on almost everything passed. Concessions are needed to pass anything, even a bill about the Post Office. Reform legislation that was supposed to fix problems in society has been watered down time and time again. People are getting mad and dismayed as Mr. Dahl predicted. They just can’t take the endless bargaining anymore and are fed up with government. Approval rating of Congress is at an all-time low: 14%. Compromise is isolating the citizenry causing them to be disfranchised of their right to express their opinion to Congress. As a result, political action groups are popping up nationwide; something not predicted by either Mr. Dahl or Mr. Mills.

In the modern era, Dahl and Mills have to be tweaked because their theories won’t be true if something isn’t changed. Both political scientists were writing in their time, the 1950s and 1960s and before the digital revolution (1980s-Present). These factors change the ballgame in political relations.  Today, leaders aren’t always on side of people. Some politicians worry about getting reelected. Others are influenced by corporate and military elite to vote in certain ways. Educational and religious institutions have been proven separate from the corporate and military institutions for the most part. Schools teach people to have independent minds in their lives. Many different religions such as Unitarian Universalism preach the seeking of truth in your beliefs. News is more extensive and rapid in the present with first-hand accounts of events posted on YouTube that are used by the mainstream media in their reporting. Also the alternative media is challenging corporate media dominance. All of these changes have caused people to create groups/pages due to their dissatisfaction with certain policies on social networks or elsewhere. The increase in political action could be the return 1960s fervor returned in minds of some young people or expression could be increasing with the advent of new technology.

Even with the division of America into an apolitical and political stratum, people are more educated than before. As some users have said, the internet allows information to disseminate so people can decide for themselves what they believe. A forum to exchange ideas has been created, provided that it stays free from censorship or government intervention.  On the other hand, elite theory and pluralism continue to plague efforts to expand democracy to other corners of the globe. This flawed system is continued in America by societal and corporate-backed forces of greed. Even with its backers, the political system can be altered in two major ways: direct action, such as blocking a road to area being logged and expansion of the blogosphere with “blogger-journalists.” Everywhere around us, the world is always changing, a place where mass communication networks can be harnessed and where people must stand up for what they believe.

NOTE: This article/essay was originally for my US Government class but I thought you people would enjoy it. 

The #occupywallst movement

Picture from protest (on its first day) that I took from the live feed

It was a regular Saturday on September 17th except for one fact. Over 5,000 protesters descended on Wall Street to rally against corporatocracy. But, the New York Police Department (NYPD) had got there first, walling off the street and the iconic symbol: the bull. Even though they had planned to occupy Wall Street, it just wasn’t possible with the police presence so they moved into a nearby park, Zuccotti Park, which they dubbed Liberty Plaza. The peaceful action was called a “Marxist Day of Rage” by some its critics and not radical enough by others. Really most of those participating were progressive or anti-corporate. I’m not saying that socialists, anarchists or anonymous supporters were not attendance but they were not in the majority. 

Average citizens across this blue planet are outraged. Corporations, especially huge monopolistic ones, are cheating the people of the world. Governments are siding with these oppressive companies. So people are getting fed up. In the Mideast, people have protested against the authoritarian governments, causing the fall of two dictators, one in Tunisia and another one in Egypt. This fervor extended to Europe in the May15Movement or the European Revolution, which I talked about earlier this year. Europe is continuing a revolution of ideas it started earlier this year, which is now blossoming in America. To jumpstart this process, independent activists are preaching the end of corporate power in politics and organizing events to stop an injustice. 

The broad spectrum of differing perspective brings angry citizens together from across the country. In Adbuster’s original message announcing this event, they asked for help in finding their central demand. Since then, Noam Chomskians have taken the upper hand, being the most active and calling for the abolishment of corporate personhood. Others have partially followed Texas Representative Ron Paul’s economic doctrine, calling for the end of the Federal Reserve. The mainstream of the movement is directing the most energy being at big business. The radical nature of some of the attendees like the Democratic Socialists of America, those that say the “rich are killing us” and those that say capitalism are evil and want to overturn the current economic system are in the fringe but some of their more rational ideas mesh with the attitudes of other protesters. In addition, these people are in the fringe because they don’t have consensus of what to replace the current economic system, while most of the protesters just want to modify the current system.

After the first days of protests, a mammoth effort was underway even though only about 500 stayed for the night, sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags. Some say it was even more like the cameraman on the UStream Channel, Mobile Broadcast News who said he counted over “1,000 heads.” No matter what number you choose, one can’t question the fact that people were fired up, walking down Wall Street (on Saturday and Sunday) and shouting their message. Later, they were not allowed on Wall Street during the rest of the week because it was open so they protested from afar. According to one bystander, shouts could be heard two blocks away. While this was happening, the police controlled the situation and protesters were not fighting back, they were following orders. Despite this, I would estimate that about 10 people were arrested a few days ago, but all were quickly released according to reports on twitter. Meanwhile, activists used a twitter account, OccupyWallStNYC to coordinate the buying of food and other supplies for those that remained, which they called (and still call) #needsoftheoccupiers. If there are 2,000 protesters in New York City, I would say that three to four times that are part of the movement on Twitter. Even the official twitter organizing account has over 5,000 followers. Adding this together about 16,000 people on Facebook plus 2,000 on the ground in NYC and maybe 10,000 people on twitter equals about 28,000 as part of the movement! While this movement has blossomed, the group in New York got the most media attention which only fully accumulated after the first day of protests had elapsed. 

The Real News Network had the best account of the event, interviewing people at the scene of the protest. I am not saying Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! didn’t do a good job, but she didn’t interview people at the scene, however she provided great independent news coverage. On the other hand, maybe we should start calling the mainstream media the lamestream media, because not once was it shown on TV since the “revolution will not be televised.” Every person was educated and they knew what they were talking about. The same thing was shown on the Colbert Report, where Steven Colbert tried to poke fun at the protest. Instead of getting people who were clueless, there was people who were part of the political stratum. As talked about in Mr. Dahl’s “Who Governs?,” those in this group are deeply involved in the political process, just like activists in this movement. 

Checking the twitter hashtags #occupywallst, #antibanks, #occupywallstreet, #ows, #ourwallstreet, #sept17, #globalrevolution, #TakeWallSt, #usdor, #takewallstreet, #usdayofrage, and many others, I was able to read first-hand what activists were saying about the movement for that day. As of now, numerous people are being held by the NYPD with many in the protest calling for their release. Michael Moore and Keith Olbermann, huge media stars have professed their support for the movement and were congratulated on the account of the official organizer of protests (especially those in New York) named @OccupyWallSt. Last night, I watched a clip on Real Time with Bill Maher, where Tom Morello, the former head of Rage Against the Machine professed his support for the movement. Lupe Fiasco, a major rap star has offered supplies and his support as he protests in solidarity with the other protesters in New York.  As support spreads, it has become a national movement, spreading to areas across the United States and more prevalent, sparking worldwide protests. 

I compiled a map, showing where all the protests are occurring as I write this. I tried to be as detailed as possible, using the sources I had available including takethesquare’s site and Wikipedia’s page that both linked to protest feeds across the world, but Take The Square told people to occupy financial sectors wherever you live:

To close, I am learning that it’s getting violent on Wall Street but because of the NYPD attacking protesters, detaining them or other actions. This was confirmed by what I heard on the livestream when one man said: “it was very violent.” According to a recent Associated Press tweet, over 80 people have been arrested by the NYPD. I just hope that they can hold on there until December 31st as the official Facebook event says because then it can benefit the whole global movement. In the end, I encourage you to protest against or write about the corporations and the governments that have become something that is against the people, not for the people and has caused people-driven government to disappear from the “free world.”

UPDATE:  Political Fail Blog wrote in a blogpost about 10 minutes ago: "Yesterday, the NYPD arrested *more than* 95 people who were marching with hundreds of others to the UN, to voice their distaste for the globalist organization, * supposedly* in existence to promote democracy and human rights." That means I was a little off reports that 80 people were arrested, but when its hard to count that many people, it could be easy to make a mistake!

UPDATE 2: I added more protest sites to the ones I had originally wrote about. With the help of #occupychicago I was able to add even more sites of occupation.

UPDATE 3: More and more people support #occupywallst, now called #OWS for short. Chris Hayes, the editor in chief of the Nation supports the movement, as he has had it on his MSNBC show, UP with Chris Hayes for two days in a row. I watched this morning and learned that 700 people were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge. That brings up the total to about 800 who have been arrested so far in these protests (includes the 10 people who were released). There is a number of others that support the movement as well, including Hip-Hop star Russell Simmons, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, Cornel West and Noam Chomsky (who was mentioned in my original article).  In addition, two days ago, Senator Bernie Sanders said he supported the movement saying on Countdown with Keith Olbermann: "What I appreciate about what's going on in New York City right now is there is a spotlight being focused on Wall Street. We desperately need that. If were going to get out of this recession and create the millions of jobs that we desperately need, we need real Wall Street reform. Right now, a lot of people don't know this, you have six financial institutions, the largest six banks in the country who control 60% of the assets of the United States of America. After we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, 3 out of the 4 largest financial institutions actually became bigger. So if we are going to create a situation so capital is going to flow into the productive economy, into manufacturing, into rebuilding our infrastructure, into transforming our energy system, rather than continuing the casino-type games Wall Street is playing right now, we need a lot of pressure on Wall Street. No question about that...Focusing attention on Wall Street is exactly the right thing to do. Let me give just one other example, Keith. In the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, we managed to get a provision in there which allowed for an audit of the Fed during the Wall Street bailout. What we learned amazingly enough is the Fed provided 16 trillion dollars. 16 trillion in low-interest loans to every financial institution in this country and to central banks all over the world and large corporations. Now just think of what would happen if the Fed today said: "We have to deal with unemployment. We're going to make billions of dollars in low-interest loans available to small businesses, to those institutions in America which are actually part of the productive economy, producing products, producing services and creating jobs."" I found from some looking on Keith Olbermann's site some other interesting tidbits on a page that puts all of the videos having to do with the Wall Street protests together: http://current.com/shows/countdown/topic/occupy-wall-street.

UPDATE 4:
Its been a while since I updated this article, but I found a bunch of articles on the subject of Occupy Wall Street (#OWS). The press is crazy now. Articles are coming in like wildfire. I even saw one on Yahoo! News, one of the corporate giants. They know they have to cover the movement, even though the protesters are against them! That's what they deserve. Truthdig, now has a whole page devoted to stories about #OWS that they wrote. Anyway, here's a collection of the articles about #OWS in the past two days (If I went back farther it would be hundreds of links):
- http://theweek.com/article/index/220344/why-occupy-wall-street-is-more-popular-than-the-tea-party-5-theories
- http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/theres_something_happening_here_20111013/
- http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/which_side_are_you_on_20111013/
- http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20111014/ECONOMY/111019920/0/newsletter
- http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7441
- http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/04/1022722/-Occupy-Wall-Street:-List-and-map-of-over-200-US-solidarity-events-and-Facebook%C2%A0pages?detail=hide
- http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/152731/occupy_wall_street_showdown%3A_triumph_and_tense_clashes/?akid=7710.313315.oSi5Hw&rd=1&t=1
- http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/152730/live_blog%3A_occupy_wall_street_protesters_win_battle_against_bloomberg_eviction%2C_at_least_10_arrested_in_clash_with_police/?akid=7710.313315.oSi5Hw&rd=1&t=2 (live blogging about #OWS)
- http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/680264/saturday%3A_solidarity_protests_to_sweep_across_world/ (Protest planned worldwide for this saturday! Another expansion of the movement into even more realms!)
- http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/679931/saturday%3A_huge_global_day_of_action_in_solidarity_with_occupy_wall_street/ (Day of protests, mentioned in the link above)
- http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/680267/ows_updates%3A_hiv-positive_protester_says_cop_who_punched_him_should_be_tested%2C_23_arrested_in_denver/
- http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/680263/the_occupy_wall_street_anthem/
- http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/679930/occupy_wall_street%3A_why_now/ (Exactly the question I've been asking...)
- http://www.alternet.org/story/152729/occupy_wall_street%3A_people_power_vs._the_police_state?akid=7709.313315.L528Ly&rd=1&t=2
- http://www.alternet.org/story/152649/occupy_wall_street_trades_in_%27the_whole_world_is_watching%27_for_watching_the_whole_world?akid=7709.313315.L528Ly&rd=1&t=12
- http://www.alternet.org/story/152699/inside_occupy_wall_street%3A_journalist-participant_describes_what_life_is_really_like_%28complicated_and_inspiring%29_at_zuccotti_park__?akid=7709.313315.L528Ly&rd=1&t=21
- http://www.alternet.org/story/152694/occupy_wall_st._prepares_for_crackdown_--_will_bloomberg_try_to_tear_it_all_down?akid=7709.313315.L528Ly&rd=1&t=24 (this crackdown was averted)
- http://www.alternet.org/story/152650/occupy_wall_street_strikes_a_chord%3A_nyc_action_inspires_hundreds_of_occupations_around_the_world?akid=7709.313315.L528Ly&rd=1&t=27
- http://socialistworker.org/2011/10/14/what-occupy-wall-street-means
- http://socialistworker.org/2011/10/12/stepping-up-the-struggle
- http://socialistworker.org/2011/10/12/we-will-be-here-tomorrow
- http://socialistworker.org/2011/10/11/same-struggle-same-fight
- http://socialistworker.org/2011/10/11/autonomous-on-wall-street
- http://socialistworker.org/2011/10/13/bringing-the-struggle-home
- http://socialistworker.org/2011/10/13/the-one-percent-squirm
- http://www.reenagagneja.com/capitalism?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ReenaGagneja+%28Spiritual+Truth+Blog%29
- http://www.reenagagneja.com/anonymous-ron-pau?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ReenaGagneja+%28Spiritual+Truth+Blog%29
- http://www.thenation.com/blog/163981/occupy-wall-street-protesters-win-showdown-bloomberg
- http://www.thenation.com/article/163924/occupy-wall-street-occupy-everywhere
- http://teleomorph.com/2011/10/14/the-occupy-movement-is-zeroing-in-on-its-target/
- http://teleomorph.com/2011/10/13/lawrence-lessig-at-occupy-wall-street/ (Occupy Wall Street unifying the "left" and "right?")
- http://consortiumnews.com/2011/10/11/occupy-movement-surfaces-in-tulsa/
- http://consortiumnews.com/2011/10/11/freedom-plaza-protesters-settle-in/
- http://consortiumnews.com/2011/10/10/washingtonproteststaysput/
- http://consortiumnews.com/2011/10/10/gop-sees-mob-in-wall-st-protests/
- http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/tea-party-wall-street/2011/10/13/id/414367?s=al&promo_code=D407-1 (A christian-conservative news source talks about the Tea Party attacking #OWS. The Tea Party should be #OWS as my dad says, but this whole thing just proves they are owned by big business)
- http://consortiumnews.com/2011/10/13/common-cause-against-wall-street/
- http://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/19716/
- http://www.alternet.org/story/152655/wall_st._has_poured_millions_into_the_nypd_--_are_they_getting_their_pay_back_now?akid=7702.313315.TBCrVF&rd=1&t=24
- http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/678251/watch_disturbing_video_of_mass_arrest_of_occupy_boston_protesters%2C_including_veterans_for_peace/
- http://theweek.com/article/slide/220235/the-best-occupy-wall-street-protest-signs-a-slideshow"#0
- http://www.alternet.org/vision/152694/the_wall_street_occupation_went_from_protest_to_providing_services_--_and_now_mayor_bloomerg_is_trying_to_tear_it_all_down?akid=7701.313315.fJgzoh&rd=1&t=2
- http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/679714/occupy_wall_street_update%3A_nyc_protesters_fight_against_eviction%2C_another_pepper-spray_victim_presses_charges/
- http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/152719/america_returns_to_our_proud_history_of_hating_--_and_fighting_--_wall_street/?akid=7701.313315.fJgzoh&rd=1&t=3
- http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/679920/matt_taibbi%3A_5_things_wall_street_protesters_should_demand_of_the_1/
- http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/679919/poll%3A_americans_like_occupy_wall_street_a_whole_lot_more_than_the_tea_party/
- http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/679719/bill_clinton_tells_letterman_audience_what_ows_is_all_about%3A_%22the_country%27s_not_really_working_for_ordinary_folks%22/
- http://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/south-africa-occupy-grahamstown-statement-by-the-unemployed-peoples-movement/
- http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/10/13/occupy_wall_street_twice_as_popular_as_tea_party.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PoliticalWire+%28Political+Wire%29
- http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/occupy_the_moment_20111010/
- http://www.activistpost.com/2011/10/ows-protester-explains-real-money-vs.html
- http://www.activistpost.com/2011/10/ron-paul-message-to-occupy-wall-street.html
- http://alternativenewsreport.net/2011/10/13/strange-ows-posters/
- http://thedailyrecord.com/video/2011/10/10/occupy-baltimore-protesters-still-occupying-mckeldin-square/
- http://godfatherpolitics.com/1483/occupy-wall-street-protesters-made-me-yell-at-my-tv/ (Conservative response to #OWS. I completely disagree with this writer)


Last night, a number of "progressive" groups rushed to the defense of OWS:
- BoldProgressives: http://act.boldprogressives.org/sign/petition_defend_ows/?akid=5499.1180005.bHylCF&rd=1&source=e1-4mo-fin&t=1 (supposedly it was a emergency petition, yet it only got 25% of the people it was supposed to. I find this disappointing. However, over 54% of Americans support the movement, so that's promising
- Progressive Action Fund. They didn't have a link, but they said: "Occupy Wall Street in New York City needs your help today...Don't let anyone try to stand in the way of Americans speaking out.  Together we can make sure that everyone's voice is heard.  Tell Mayor Bloomberg that if he wants to clean parts of New York City, he should start with Wall Street."
- Left Action, but has a  petition by Credo Mobile (the company that has ads in The Nation all the time): http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/ows_4/?rc=LA_OWS_10072011_e1
- MoveOn petition: http://www.civic.moveon.org/defend_ows/?id=31974-19300787-Bm8i%3D_x&t=2 (Petition by MoveOn)
- RootAction's petition: http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4882

UPDATE FIVE:
I went down to Occupy Baltimore and wrote an article about it: "A man at the media table spoke, saying that suggestions would be posted for that day’s “General Assembly.” Every day at about 8:00 P.M. this new method of meeting occurred. Those people in the middle would pass the message to the outside without microphones, only with the human voice. It’s like a game of telephone, except more political in nature and more inclusive. As another...": http://sunpol.tumblr.com/post/11610071354/occupy-baltimore-a-movement-in-action 

My letter to the editor (Time Magazine)

While you wait for me to post another article, I found something you might like to read. My current article about the social movement on Wall Street is under way. Here's my Letter to the editor, which wasn't published in Time Magazine:

Ultranationalist Americans don’t exist

Joel Stein’s piece [“Joel vs. the volcano”, July 4th] was disconcerting. Stein writes about Iceland’s new constitution but also criticizes Americans. First he says that U.S. citizens would write U-S-A in big letters on a new constitution if it was proposed. I think Mr. Stein is not really being completely serious, but I still that that the premise that Americans are ill-informed is incorrect. Some people have good ideas like reforming government for the betterment of the people. On the other hand, many Americans don’t have the appropriate sources of information to become politically-literate citizens. Later in the column, Mr. Stein writes “I was totally right to have never read through our Constitution all the way through. Constitutions are boring.” Mr. Stein seems have a smart-alecy tone throughout the piece and he seems to think he is the only one who knows about the Constitution’s inner workings. That’s just not true. He does not seem to be a fair judge of the document. At the end of the column, he writes “America’s found[ers]…wrote a document…that prevents…direct democracy [that] could lead to people giving themselves ludicrously low taxes and insanely generous benefits.” Mr. Stein seems to not have faith in the American spirit and the American character to lead meaningful change. In conclusion, I believe Mr. Stein is mischaracterizing Americans as ignorant, incompetent and jingoist.

Grassroots protests: A world revolution?

On Facebook, the owner of a page talked about a so-called "world revolution." I said I'd write an article, but I never got around to it until now. Looking through articles, videos and posts across the internet, I have found events that eventually fit into a puzzle of directly connected pieces.

It is accepted by some websites across the internet that a world revolution is a “world socialist revolution” envisioned by former American news reporter and philosopher Karl Marx: “When Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels implored workers of the world to unite, they announced a new vision of international politics: world socialist revolution...the struggle for world socialist revolution.”[i] The difference between world socialist revolution and world revolution is one that distinguishes the organized revolt.

There is no way it is a world socialist revolution. The revolution consists of protests against governments across the world[ii], a revolt against powers that be, the ruling class or leadership class of just about every country. Some revolts that started as peaceful are becoming more violent and some going the opposite way. Some in the U.S. even call for a peaceful second American Revolution on Facebook[iii] (a violent revolution against the government is illegal under federal law). The page does not explain its purpose completely, but is pretty obvious that the creators believe the current U.S. government is crooked. In the Mideast, which I call the Orient, people are angry with the dictators or oligarchies that remain so they are arming themselves with deadly weapons. In Libya, a protest against Muammar Gaddafi became inflamed when NATO and support of the “industrialized world” was added in a situation that has become a civil war. It is debatable if the protest was violent to start with as countries like France may have started the violence with secret intervention, but it is obvious that Libya has descended into civil war. Also, in the American-backed dictatorship in Yemen seemed to be led by armed activists as the revolution continued. However, only a few days ago, protestors have told “people to be patient and continue their peaceful revolution until they oust all "remnants" of the regime.”[iv] I went all the way back to what gave me the idea for this blog, a Facebook post I commented on:

The world revolution has its roots in France where the “European Revolution” was dubbed by protestors began. According to europeanrevolution.net[v]: “At least 20 of the most important cities in France have their square occupied by youth protesters. Calling themseleves the Indignés…France seems to hold a leading position in the new European Revolution...They demand a Constitutive Assembly to make govern[ments] ‘remember’ that ‘people [are] sovereign’…stress…inequality of o[p]portunities and priorities between represented and representat[ives], between reality and ideologies. They ask [their voice to be heard by the governments].” The demands juts articulated shows that people (possibly in the millions) are serious with their concerns and want a changed world order. These mobilized citizens do not want a international order planned out by the elites since the early 1900s. Certain ideas, like the Federal Reserve (formulated by private bankers and big business in 1913, before it was introduced to Congress as the Federal Reserve Act) advanced this idea. To see the impetus for the action in France, you have to go back to the protests in Spain. At one point, protesters called for a world revolution and future reforms as written on Raw Story[vi]: “From Tahrir to Madrid to the world, world revolution," said one of the placards, referring to Tahrir Square in Cairo which was the focal point of the Egyptian revolution earlier this year...Calling for "Real Democracy Now," the protests, popularly known as M-15, were called to condemn Spain's soaring unemployment, economic crisis, politicians in general, and corruption.” These protests may have been organized by Anonymous, the organization that uses hacktivism (combination of hacking and activism) to complete its objectives. The organization has two major goals: making the internet free for the people of the world and punishing those that try to box the users of the world wide web in. The group had a video on LeakSource[vii] about how to prepare for a world revolution and what to do to go against the world elite. Underneath the video was the infamous saying on the internet that is feared by the leadership class, encapsulating the hopes of the protestors (bolded sayings) :

“We are Anonymous

We are Legion

We do not forgive

We do not forget

Expect us!"

The convergence of hacktivist groups (such as Anonymous and Lulz Boat), active citizenry across the world and advocacy groups has created a World Revolution. Some have called 2011 the year of revolution[viii] and I can’t agree more. Protests that started in Spain were influenced by young people who called for the end of overarching governments and the creation of democracies across the Arab World. Other Europeans had similar thoughts, causing organized disagreement across the region. International underground organizations seized on this opportunity and tried to convince internet users worldwide to protest against the global elite by creating short YouTube videos in some cases. An example is Global Strike[ix] (made by Anonymous), which explained how to stop the world leadership class and asking YouTube users to create their own videos in response.

The ways to stop “the system” from overpowering you is so simple as the video points out, actions everyone could do, such as (groups that came up with these ideas are bracketed) :

- Not buying anything for a week [Anonymous] (My take: It could face opposition from consumers internationally who just buy and buy)

- Storing up food, not buying it [Anonymous] (My take: Like the previous idea, this one could also face opposition from those who love capitalism and just want everything. But a concentrated effort could solve this problem)

- “Stop supporting companies that you know are harmful.”[x] (My take: This is easy to do, all you have to do is be an informed citizen and if you buy products, then you must choose companies that will lead to a better future.)

- Growing your own food [Anonymous] (My take: Many people do this already with side gardens, victory gardens, backyard gardens, live on farms, etc… So, it wouldn’t be the hard to transition.)

- Go out on the street and protest against the elite [Anonymous] (My take: I believe that many Americans are used to the culture of surveillance, born out of the age of “terrorism” and would be afraid to participate. I am not so sure myself if I should participate in this activity since I feel I could be labeled as something I’m not.)

I have tried to do all of these listed items to the best of my ability. I’ve forced myself to not buying anything for a week (I am fiscally conservative with my money, so I don’t spend much anyway). Also I grow my own food and I am protesting by writing this article to educate people about the #worldrevolution[xi]. When I buy products I always try to use those products that are not from companies that abuse their workers or commit other abuses, are American-made and definitely not made in China as another listed item suggests. From my own analysis, certain groups don’t want people to buy anything because the money is controlled by the world elite. Federal Reserve Notes, the money I am referring to, is legal tender in America (“This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private”). U.S. dollars are printed by a private bank, an action that isn’t allowed by the U.S. Constitution.

I believe that from everything that has happened, it is now the time to “say no more…will the many allow the few to ruin our planet and our lives....We [the people of the world] can change things.”[xii] People must act against those who push a non-democratic “new world order” and push for government that work for the people, not the secret governments that exist across the planet which could lead to a one-world government as some have theorized.

So, now you if you want to learn more about this “world revolution,” I found pages on facebook that advocated for it that you can use for more information:

- WORLD REVOLUTION

- Global Liberation Network

- World Revolution: Real Democracy (where I found out about whole world revolution)

- World Revolution News

- World Revolution, the world is changing

- In a facebook search more pages can be found[xiii]

In addition, Twitter has a number of people tweeting about the subject. Here’s a list of users I complied, that talk about this information, including:

- @revolution_info

- @GlobalRevol (sorry it’s in Spanish, if you are not good at Spanish)

- @EchteDemokratie

- @15MayRevolution

- @olgarodriguezfr

- @Zed_Lepplin (to some extent)

- @takethesquare (connecting Spanish Revolution and trying to apply it to the world)

- @AcampadaEDI

- @namorix2

- @AcampadaEDI

- @armandonoticias

Hashtags #worldrevolution and #globalrevolution on Twitter you can use for information.

---

[i]http://www.answers.com/topic/world-revolution-1

[ii] http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=121048771311260&set=a.121048767977927.28274.121048357977968&type=1&theater

[iii] Facebook page of American Revolution 2011

[iv] http://www.newsyemen.net/en/view_news.asp?sub_no=3_2011_08_05_40413

[v] http://www.europeanrevolution.net/

[vi] http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/20/spanish-protesters-cheer-for-world-revolution-as-ban-on-demonstration-takes-effect/

[vii] http://leaksource.wordpress.com/anonymous/#comments%20

[viii]political fail blog page about world revolution [A page that has since been deleted from the website]

[ix] http://lunaticoutpost.com/Topic-Anonymous-Global-Strike-July-2011

[x] http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:lbBrAs9T7E4J:www.politicalfailblog.com/p/worldrevolution.html+-+%E2%80%9CStop+supporting+companies+that+you+know+are+harmful.%E2%80%9D&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com

[xi] twitter hashtag, #worldrevolution

[xii] POLITICAL FAIL BLOG

[xiii] http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=world%20revolution&init=quick&tas=0.9820292391995158