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SOPA Opera

By David Freedlander 1/25/12 8:30am

SOPA Opera

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After Public Drubbing on SOPA and PIPA, Schumer, Gillibrand Hit ‘Command Z’

One Friday earlier this month, Andrew Rasiej, the chairman of NY Tech Meetup and an old-school Internet evangelist, sent out an email to the 20,000 members of the group asking them to do something most had never even considered before: close their laptops, leave their coworking spaces, put their iPads down (but not—god no!—their smart phones, essential to live tweeting) and pick up a picket sign.

“The future of the NY tech community is in jeopardy,” the email read. “We are writing to call you to an Emergency NY Tech Meetup in New York on January 18 so that we can publicly demonstrate our collective dismay at the unprecedented attack currently being made on the Internet and our industry.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 1/23/12 2:14pm

SOPA Opera

Senator Chuck Grassley (Photo: Twitter)

Senator Chuck Grassley Hacked On Twitter (Update)

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley withdrew his support for the controversial Protect I.P. Act, better known as PIPA, last Wednesday, but that didn’t stop an angry PIPA opponent from hacking into his Twitter account today. As of this writing, over 20 Tweets have been sent from Senator Grassley’s account this afternoon that appear to be the work of a hacker.

“Yes I was hacked,” one of the Tweets said.

A few of the Tweets posted on Senator Grassley’s account indicate the hacker is upset over the senator’s initial support for PIPA, a bill designed to protect intellectual property and curb piracy that has drawn the ire of internet users.

“Chuck is a supporter of SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA, meaning he wants no privacy for private accounts,” read another one of the Tweets. Read More