There was only really one story this week – wasn’t there? SOPA – and how to stop it. The Stop Online Piracy Act and its bastard cousin PIPA (Protect IP Act) sound like something we would want. But in reality, they are something that Hollywood wants to protect foreign countries (um…China) from copying movies and selling them, thus keeping the Hollywood moguls from getting even richer.
Nothing wrong with that, really. But the way the legislation is written leaves a lot of room for interpreting what exactly constitutes “piracy” and “protecting IP”. Read “SOPA and PIPA Explained – at Last!” or, if you’re a more visual type, check out TheOatmeal.com’s rendering of the big Internet balckout. You’ll be up to speed in no time.
With the Internet on strike all day Wednesday, January 18 one might have feared those crazy Republican presidential contenders wouldn’t have enough online time this week to out-whackjob one another. But, lo and behold, the minute the Internet blinked back to life, one of Newt Gingrich’s ex-wives came forward to tell us how Newt asked her for an open marriage…and wanted to trade her in for a “Chevrolet.” Ah, you can’t make this stuff up!
Not to be outdone by celebrity chef Paula Deen’s controversial diabetes type 2 diagnosis (that’s what happens when you need a side of breadsticks to accompany your bacon cheese fries), Jersey Shore “star”, Snooki took a photo of herself sans makeup.
And how was your week online? All these stories – and more – are curated over at the Online Media Roundup.
Photo courtesy of KazzaDrask Media.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
