Moved Camp

Hey guys! If you haven't figured it out, there's no more posting going on at the moment. The few US Pirate Party people I ran into while running this blog really weirded me out. Just creepy internet troll types that seem less interested in Pirate issues and more interested in playing king of the mountain. So be it! Catch up with me at my other blog, PPandA (I'm mostly writing about music at the moment).

Best,
Mike

Vermonster 1, Monster 0

Yes, we won. The grassroots effort to block Monster Energy Drink's legal thuggery and trademark beatdown on the small Vermont microbrew makers of the Vermonster has taken the day. For those not up to date, the corporate powerhouse Monster Energy Drink, member of the pissed off patent posse, the Hansen Drink Company, tried to muscle the tiny Rock Art Brewery out of business because they dared to mention two syllables of the Monster Energy Drink in their beer's name (the Vermonster, which, by the way, was in business BEFORE Monster). One sympathetic 6-minute documentary and a bunch of viral support later, Monster backs down. Your support counted!

Techdirt has a nice writeup about how the fight has only just begun against the legal thuggery of Hansen Drink Company.

Plus, check out the Rock Art Brewery site for what should be some well deserved victory laps.

And for the entire, lip smacking timeline of events check out this link!

Boycotts work! Raising a fuss makes a difference! Good job, people!

EU Parliament Chokes on Online Freedom Bill? Surprise, Surprise!

In the interests of political expediency, the European Parliament recently snuffed one critical amendment, in a larger piece of legislation, which would have made a firm stand for the rights of citizens in the online world. Amendment 138 had previously enjoyed solid support from the governing body. But the lead rapporteur (essentially, chief policy wonk) Catherine Trautmann, unceremoniously scuttled the amendment when it appeared it might stand in the way of the smooth passage of the Telecoms Package. Check out a more complete story here.

Chalk this one up to the growing pains of the European Union, a political body with a normally high standard and good track record when it comes to protecting individual liberties. Hopefully the sinking of amendment 138 does not signal a reverse trend of caving into corporate interests at the expense of the freedoms enjoyed by the average citizen.