Wednesday Session with Bishop

STOP ACTA & TPP

Stop ACTA & TPP! - Never use trade agreements to mess with the Internet!

They tried to push internet censorship through Congress and we stopped them with our STOP SOPA/PIPA protests. But the companies behind SOPA & PIPA have a backup plan: secretive trade agreements like ACTA & TPP. If we can't stop these backroom deals, the internet's future belongs to SOPA's backers. DO EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO SPREAD THE WORD, CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES, YELL FROM THE STREET CORNERS, ALL OF IT! You can start by using the form below to send a message. Get more detail from KILLACTA.org

I urge you to vote no on ACTA and to communicate its severe problems to your colleagues. ACTA's vague language locks us into obsolete copyright and patent laws, preventing democracies from updating their laws to unlock new economic and social opportunities.It criminalizes harmless remixes by ordinary users if they achieve 'a commercial scale' (art 2.14.1) which many amateur videos do on sites like Youtube. And it criminalizes legitimate websites by making them responsible for user behavior ('aiding and abetting' art 2.14.4).Worse, it permanently bypasses the democratic process by empowering the 'ACTA Committee' to 'propose amendments to [ACTA]' without your approval. (art 6.4) In other words, it's impossible to know what you're voting for.The global movement against the US law SOPA showed that internet freedom is a crucial issue which belongs in the legislative process of each country. You should view ACTA as an attempt by a handful of companies to circumvent the democratic process, and you should vote against it.Thank you. Please reply if you have any questions.

Wednesday Session with Bishop

November 19, 2008

Greg Bishop will be live from the downtown studio on 5th street on 970 WMAY, the News and Talk of Springfield. Tune in online at WMAY dot com from noon to 3 today!

Down Town Studio web cam

Webcam

Being a student, as many adults are in today's society, what are some of your pet peeves in the classroom? Is it the guy who blows his nose in the middle of a lecture? Or the girl who texts her boyfriend every ten minutes? What about the bumbling intellectual that can't quite spit the words out?

What are some of the stupid causes people fight for? Before we get to that ... an example of a great cause and a fascinating story:

In my class Democratization and the Public Sphere, we learned about the Zapatistas, and the theatrical demonstration they performed January 1st, 1994 in protest of NAFTA. The indigenous people where fighting for recognition, not just for them, but for all disenfranchised people around the world. It worked, they were recognized and the Mexican government to this day still has to deal with them. This is comparable to the struggles against slavery, or child labor, or an eight hour work day ... you know, causes for human rights.

But what about the flip side? What are some of the stupid causes people fight for? "Lobsters are people too", or "vegetation rights" or how about "global warming?"

This and your calls at 217.629.7970 or email bishop@wmay.com, live from the downtown studio on 5th street with 970 WMAY, the News and Talk of Springfield.