Alex Jones removed from Google News since November, YouTube channel may be deleted

After “they” flushed the video of Donald Rumsfeld saying “missile hit the pentagon” down a memory hole (I swear I’ve seen it with my own eyes… once), I started saving videos- usually FLV or Mp4 files from my browser cache.  If YouTube wants to censor videos selectively for political gain, I have a few TB/month bandwidth I can spare to xfer some important documentary videos as I’m sure quite a few other hosts do.   I think YouTube and the government should go ahead and delete his account cause they’ll really be pouring gasoline on the fire.  People will use other services to distribute the videos and we won’t continue supporting this intelligence agency founded/funded service.   Google News basically pushes all the latest internet propaganda from the corporate media to the top, constantly finding new ways to stifle public opinion. YouTube takes important videos down all the time under the pretext of copyright violation or the ambiguous “terms of use violation” they applied uniquely to Alex Jones’ YouTube channel.  We can do better.

If you want to help distribute underground documentary videos, all you have to do is seed them on BitTorrent. Vuze is a good BitTorrent client. Use the advanced view + transport encryption.  That’s something you can do easily from the comfort of your own home. Here’s how:

After downloading Vuze from the link above, or other torrent client, use a torrent search engine like Torrentz.com to search for “Alex Jones” (or whatever you want).  Download the .torrent files for the movies you want to watch, open them with Vuze, and transfer the files down.  Leave the files “seeding” which means they are shared with others in the torrent network.  Click to enlarge…

There are other social web video sites like Liveleak.com, vimeo.com, Metacafe.com, Break.com etc to upload vids.  We should definitely diversify our uploading efforts.   I’m getting pretty sick of copyright violation takedowns from YouTube in my old posts and having to find other copies.

What the feds and spooks don’t seem to realize is that for every video they take down, 10 more are going to pop up.   This whack-a-mole approach just makes their problem (us) worse as censorship makes people more curious and validates everything we’re doing.

TheAlexJonesChannel on YouTube.  – People should get in the habit of saving videos so they can quickly be re-uploaded, hopefully in a more distributed fashion next time.

Comcast charging Level 3 internet backbone provider fees to transfer “competing content” to customers

BROOMFIELD, Colo., November 29, 2010

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today issued the following statement, which can be attributed to Thomas Stortz, Chief Legal Officer of Level 3:

“On November 19, 2010, Comcast informed Level 3 that, for the first time, it will demand a recurring fee from Level 3 to transmit Internet online movies and other content to Comcast’s customers who request such content. By taking this action, Comcast is effectively putting up a toll booth at the borders of its broadband Internet access network, enabling it to unilaterally decide how much to charge for content which competes with its own cable TV and Xfinity delivered content. This action by Comcast threatens the open Internet and is a clear abuse of the dominant control that Comcast exerts in broadband access markets as the nation’s largest cable provider.

“On November 22, after being informed by Comcast that its demand for payment was ‘take it or leave it,’ Level 3 agreed to the terms, under protest, in order to ensure customers did not experience any disruptions.

“Level 3 operates one of several broadband backbone networks, which are part of the Internet and which independent providers of online content use to transmit movies, sports, games and other entertainment to consumers. When a Comcast customer requests such content, for example an online movie or game, Level 3 transmits the content to Comcast for delivery to consumers.

“Level 3 believes Comcast’s current position violates the spirit and letter of the FCC’s proposed Internet Policy principles and other regulations and statutes, as well as Comcast’s previous public statements about favoring an open Internet.

“While the network neutrality debate in Washington has focused on what actions a broadband access provider might take to filter, prioritize or manage content requested by its subscribers, Comcast’s decision goes well beyond this. With this action, Comcast is preventing competing content from ever being delivered to Comcast’s subscribers at all, unless Comcast’s unilaterally-determined toll is paid – even though Comcast’s subscribers requested the content. With this action, Comcast demonstrates the risk of a ‘closed’ Internet, where a retail broadband Internet access provider decides whether and how their subscribers interact with content.

“It is our hope that Comcast’s senior management, for whom we have great respect, will closely consider their position on this issue and adopt an approach that will better serve Comcast and Comcast’s customers.

“While Comcast’s position is regrettable, Level 3 remains open and willing to work through these issues with Comcast. However, Level 3 does not seek any ‘special deals’ or arrangements not generally available to other Internet backbone companies.

“Given Comcast’s currently stated position, we are approaching regulators and policy makers and asking them to take quick action to ensure that a fair, open and innovative Internet does not become a closed network controlled by a few institutions with dominant market power that have the means, motive and opportunity to economically discriminate between favored and disfavored content.“

About Level 3 Communications
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) is a leading international provider of fiber-based communications services. Enterprise, content, wholesale and government customers rely on Level 3 to deliver services with an industry-leading combination of scalability and value over an end-to-end fiber network. Level 3 offers a portfolio of metro and long-haul services, including transport, data, Internet, content delivery and voice. For more information, visit www.level3.com

…

Homeland Security tracking visits to seized domains using Google Analytics and Piwik

The US Dept of Homeland Security shut down more than 70 web sites over the weekend which they claimed were involved in distributing copyrighted music.

Nothing to see here... move along.

If you buy into all this “intellectual property” stuff in the first place… you think information can be considered “property” then you must also think of domains as private intellectual property which is protected under the 4th amendment from warrantless search and seizure- and the fact that they issued a single blanket warrant for all these domains indicates that they did not afford each domain owner due process because each site has different owners, different content and should be considered in separate court proceedings.

Since they shut off domains at the top level (.com) which Verisign is authoritative for, they just issue one single order to verisign for as many domains as they like, without considering the ethics of copying and distributing information which essentially boils down to very long numbers.  Can you “own” a number?  They seem to think so. People can form legally enforcable contracts but what if someone didn’t agree not to download your song?  They haven’t violated any contract.  Ah, right but we’re supposed to think of information as property.  The concept of Intellectual Property is absurd and disproven. You can not own a number and copying a number is not stealing property, since the original number still exists!

Naturally being curious about these seized domains, I pulled some cached pages from that rapgodfathers.com site off archive.org to see what was going on.   The keywords in their pages include terms like “warez” which means unlicensed software, and although site did seem to contain some info related to file sharing that is for a court of law to decide whether it violates any copyrights, not the corporate media and RIAA MPAA with their takedown notices.  Google and YouTube host copyrighted media all the time and get away with it.

I didn’t exactly want to visit the confiscated domain, for fear of getting on some kind of “list” but unfortunately I accidentally clicked a link in the archive.org cache of it, which took me to rapgodfathers.com.  Since I already loaded the thing (javascripts blocked of course), I had a look at the source code of the DHS page (below), and noticed that they’re using two different stats packages (Google Analytics, and Piwik) which record IP addresses, referring URLs, and potentially other private information of all those terrorist file-sharers.  Yes, some accidental visits will also be added to the database, but we have nothing to worry about, being accidentally added to homeland security lists… or.. nevermind.

The Piwik analytic software appears to be running on the following private host:

CaroNet Managed Hosting, Inc. CI-74-81-170-0-23 (NET-74-81-170-0-1) 74.81.170.0 - 74.81.171.255
Carolina Internet, Ltd. CARO-NET-ARIN-4 (NET-74-81-160-0-1) 74.81.160.0 - 74.81.191.255

So not only is DHS apparently doing unconstitutional seizure of domains within the US, they’re also recording visitors’ info without any kind of privacy statement. I can’t say this surpirses me but when the government starts keeping lists of citizens, no good ever comes of it.

Federal agents can’t just sit there and execute takedown requests from companies unless they can prove a copyright violation in court and a warrant is issued to seize the “intellectual property.”  I mean, that is what you’re claiming to protect, right? In our legal system, proving something is supposed to mean going to court and having a judge or preferably a jury decide based on evidence presented and testimony.  This type of activity is a slippery slope to total censorship and centralized control over internet… which is exactly what they want.

So then, DHS, ICE, and whatever the other agency was, (so many agencies it makes my head spin) where are the search warrants to seize this so-called intellectual property?

4th amendment, people!

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

“Die for a Tie” — How the Korean War Began

George Orwell on Coal Mining

… In a way it is even humiliating to watch coal-miners working. It raises in you a momentary doubt about your own status as an ‘intellectual’ and a superior person generally. For it is brought home to you, at least while you are watching, that it is only because miners sweat their guts out that superior persons can remain superior. You and I and the editor of the Times Lit. Supp., and the poets and the Archbishop of Canterbury and Comrade X, author of Marxism for Infants– all of us really owe the comparative decency of our lives to poor drudges underground, blackened to the eyes, with their throats full of coal dust, driving their shovels forward with arms and belly muscles of steel.

Widespread Silver Bar Shortages

If everyone demanded physical delivery of silver, we’d be looking at $500/oz.  If hyper-inflation hits, the sky is the limit, $5,000, $10,000, who knows, but they will still buy the same amount of goods and services they buy now.  Saving metal coins is not a way to get rich. It will only preserve existing wealth while currency is devalued.

coinupdate.com

By Patrick A. Heller on November 18th, 2010
Categories: Featured Articles, Gold and Silver Commentary, Precious Metals

As of today, there are no longer any regular wholesale supplies of the 1 ounce through 100 ounce silver rounds and bars available for immediate delivery.  It may be possible to locate incidental quantities of some product, but most wholesalers are now promising two to four weeks delivery to allow time for the silver to be fabricated.

As a result of the shortages, premiums have started to rise.  So far, the increases have been modest, on the order of 0.5-2%.  However, if the shortage grows, expect to see further and larger premium increases in the coming weeks.  We could see a repeat of the late 2008 gold and silver buying frenzy, where product availability got as slow as 1-4 months after payment.

Read more…

How to train your slave

(BSC)  A hooded man, under an American flag, feeling up a nun, at the direction of Uncle Sam.

Why does that sound like a description for some type of sex crime?

You can never be made into a slave, you can only allow yourself to become one.
Resistance IS Victory.

Building What?