A threat to all users of the World Wide Web is growing and it could catch all of us by surprise. The European Parliament is considering a change in copyright law that could impact hundreds of millions of websites. The same copyright changes have been suggested in the U.S. as well.
It’s called ‘ancillary copyright.’ Boiled down to basics, it means that websites violate international copyright law if they provide hyperlinks to other websites. In other words, if I give you a link to a publication that exposes a horrible HOA story somewhere I violate that publication’s copyright. The reasoning is horrible.
Why does the America Homeowners Association movement hate amateur radio operators with such vehemence? They are banned in every community in every state. HOAs used to ban traditional satellite antennas until Congress stepped on these Nazi neighborhoods. Now there are satellite dishes everywhere and they haven’t hurt property values. It’s now time for Congress to protect amateur radio operators.
Linked below is an excellent YouTube video that explains the reasons for the new proposed legislation before Congress.
Well, prosecutors in San Mateo finally nailed a 64 year old HOA manager. She’s accused of embezzling 2.8 million dollars from the Woodlake Homeowners Association. She’s facing a growing heap of charges while police continue to investigate her partner.
Suspect Susan Marie Lambert
My question is, how the heck do you steal nearly three million dollars from a bunch of condo owners? Do you just assume that because they live in condos they must be stupid? Let me put that loss in actual numerals: $2,800,000.00! Where do you hide it? It can’t be in your pillowcase. It can’t even be under your bed. It would completely fill one of those condo units you supervise!
All of a sudden, the boy arrested and kicked out of school for bringing a homemade clock to school is generating wild comments from columnists on both sides of the political aisle. “Racism!” yell some. “He deserved it!” yell others.
I’m among those who are appalled that this youngster was treated so harshly. And even though I was actually one of the reporters who covered the 1999 Columbine massacre in Colorado, I still think reactionary politicians are trying to create a national police state starting with our schools. Heck, when I was growing up we didn’t even get an annual school visit from Officer Friendly. Today, there are cops at every school doorway and inspections of every lunch box before kids can get to class. What gives? Is our society really so violent that we have be such knee-jerk fear-mongers?
If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time you know that I despise political correctness. The PC movement is very similar to a viral infection. It has no predictable course, it can break out anywhere and cause untold damage to society and it can totally undermine the rule of law.
Obviously some kinds of speech and some words are offensive. But choosing not to use such language is a matter of class, decency and education. Declaring a word du jour as an illegal word is dangerous. As Saul Alinsky said, “Whoever controls the verbiage controls the debate.” And that can put power into the hands of some very bad people. Adolph Hitler controlled the verbiage. We all know how that one turned out. Fifty million people dead. Stalin controlled the verbiage. Twenty million more dead.
