http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/10760/page/2

This is a post for blog post #2; This is more of a group discussion than an article. attempts to explain how SOPA will effect our internet as we know it currently, and the posts are by experienced internet users and them talking about their fears about SOPA in terms of censorship. Censorship is when a governing body blocks access or supreses information or free speech that is threatening to their interests. In this case, it's a complicated debate because the proponents of SOPA, large media content corporations, have a good  reason for wanting this bill to pass. They are trying to protect their intellectual properties from online piracy. The problem however, is that the Bill is way to broad, and is might radically effect the internet as we know it. The internet was conceived as a place where information was supposed to flow freely and evolve, and if the government gets over-involved, then the internet might devolve to a controlled environment, strictly for profit.

Further information on SOPA

Since SOPA is extremely relevant to the topic of communication, I will probably be doing lots of posts about it for the time being.

http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/W000187

This link isn't an article, it's just a profile of our local California representative Maxine Waters (District 35), and shows her stance on SOPA, which is unknown. Not very helpful, but just wanted to post that so we knew how our local representative felt about SOPA since many of the people in our class are very partial to the results of the debate.

This however, is an article about the stance of another beloved (To some) internet-conceived internet-meme-gone-financial-powerhouse, Cheezburger (9gag is a lot better); and it's stance on the ratification of SOPA-

http://mynorthwest.com/11/611611/Cheezburgers-Ben-Huh-is-leading-SOPA-fight

Google is against SOPA, but is already beginning to give in

http://www.infowars.com/google-is-already-using-sopa-like-censorship/

According to this article on infowars.com, the well known and loved web giant Google has been making a public display against ratifying SOPA Act, but are already capitulating to government pressures to censor content. SOPA is the 'Stop Online Piracy Act, that is getting a lot of attention because of it's characterization of a battle between silicon valley and Hollywood. SOPA has huge implications for the future of media because it puts into law internet censorship on a massive scale for the first time. And internet service providers are afraid that they will lose the ability to innovate and distribute content and information on the web.

United States negotiating Bin Laden's arrest (he's dead now but this stuff is interesting)

http://www.infowars.com/saved%20pages/Prior_Knowledge/US_met_taliban.htm

Article on Colonial Era communication- https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/baugrud/www/helpfiles/colonial.html

This article talks about how American colonists communicated with each other. The article talks about how the colonsists used the press to keep in sync with the outside world, since they couldn't just hop onto face-book or hear it on the radio, and information had to travel on foot. (Literally!) The writer also talks about how the British saw the press as a threat and frequently tried to restrain it  by passing laws known as 'Acts.' However, American colonists were not very dependent on the press because communication was much more social and physical. For example, if Jake wants to send a letter to his Aunt in Brookesville, and Anthony is passing through Brookesville, Anthony would take Jake's letters and give them to Jake's Aunt in Brookesville. There was no mailman. Everything was very local. Also, the press did not physically help the colonists survive in the New World either, so they did not feel a serious need for it.