I have to apologize to everybody following this story for the lack of updates - for two years now, I fear. I admit that I had lost track of the story for a time shortly after I published the last chapter, "Terrible as the Dawn" in May 2011 (I cannot believe it has been that long!). However, since I have been asked if I am still alive, and if I am still writing on it, I can say: yes, I am alive, no, I fear I have not been writing ofn it for some time, BUT yes, I do plan to continue the story if I can, though it may take some more time (*still* more time, I know). Anyway, to all the people who asked: thatk you for your encouragement! You *do* keep this thing alive, you know. :)

I also have to say that I have planned the whole story out until the end, and in fact, some parts of the end are already written; it is the way in-between in which I had been stuck... until now, that is.

I cannot make promises as to how soon there will be another chapter; but I try.

Thank you to everybody who is still interested and who asked for a new chapter. :)

Aislynn

Happy Birthday dear Randy! Stay as you are, the great doyen of fanfiction discussions, great writer and good friend you have been for so many of us for such a long time! Many happy returns, and many more great bithsdays to you! ;D

*sings birthday song*

and shame on me, I have no gift tis year - not even a picture... still!

Have a great and wonderful day! ;DDDD

Well, it would have been too good to be true. The European Parliament has just rejected ACTA with an overwhelming majority... and no sooner they have done this, the European Comission tries to revive the dead treaty by iimplementing it's rejected elements and provisions into a new international treaty, this one with Canada. Bye ACTA, meet CETA - they probably hope we all will now think the deal is done, and lose attention.

News Flash: we won't. We will fight this crap until it is dead for good. As long as it takes. This treaty must die, and the idiotic IP ideas and criminal enforcement measures against copyright violations it contains must die with it!

Today, the European Parliament has rejected ACTA, the Anti-Counterfying-Trade-Agreement, with a vast majority. Only a small handful or representatives still voted for the traty, most of the members of the parliament voted against it. So, for the moment:Epc Win, folks!
Here is, what La Quadrature du Net has to say:
ACTA: Total win for citizens and democracy

Of course, this is just a small victory in an ongoing battle - the next steps of the fight are already before us: the European Comission is working on the novelization of the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED II), which basically has every nasty thing in its text that they took out of the internet chapter of ACTA, to make the latter more presentable; there is "Clean IT", which aims at enforcing private cooperation of ISP and corporations as well as government offices to "clean" the Internet from "illegal" stuff (including copyright violations and "offending" websites, there is CISPA and TPP, the latter an proposed agreement that makes ACTA seem harmless, and not just because it will severely limit Fair Use.

But. To fight these is on the agenda for the future. For now, we have defeated ACTA. This battle, we won. :)

I'm running a test to see who's reading my posts. So, if you read this, leave me a one-word comment about your day that starts with the third letter of your LJ USERNAME. Only one word please. Then repost so I can leave a word for you. Don't just post a word and not copy - that's not as much fun!

Originally posted by cantarina1 at post

Originally posted by digitalwave at Seems I Am Not The Only One...

The “Stop Online Piracy Act” (HR 3261), introduced in October in congress and into the USS legislate system, needs to be stopped.

This act is supposed to empowers copyright holders to seek punitive action when their material is reproduced online. However, it will do so (if it does so) with tremendous collateral damage to tzhe Internet as we know it. For example, the rules of Fair Use would allow you to do parodies - and yet, copyright holders have used Copyright claims to try and suppress political remixes of trading spots, have tried to suppress the citation of parts of texts in critical blog posts, or to suppress the redistribution of unwelcome and "leaked" information in the past. In the future, they could use these claims to simply force Internet Service Providers to block access to the websites hosting these unwelcome remixes, articles and blog posts, and force Paypal and other services to transfer your donation money to them. In other words, the possibilities of censure this law includes are alarming.

Aside from that, the danger this law would provide to fannish culture? You guess it. Just imagine live journal blocked, for example, because somebody posted or linked a movie remix. Your beloved icons? movie pictures? fannish articles? All reasons to block access to your sites, if some copyright holder honcho should decide so. And I imagine this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Please, those of you on my f-list who live in the USA - do everything in your power, e-mail or write your senators or representatives in congress, call them, go demonstrating, sign petitions, do whatever you can to STOP THIS. This is serious, and the danger to the Intern et as we know it is immediate. and no, Obama refusing to sign that bill will not be enough - not if instead the bill gets through modified and just a little less bad, but still FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond Repair) enough to wreak havoc with the Internet as it is now.

As I said before, this is serious, and the danger is immediate.

Read more here on AlterNet:

Kill the Bill: The “Stop Online Piracy Act” and Why It Matters by Max Coleman

And at the site of the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

How PIPA and SOPA Violate White House Principles Supporting Free Speech and Innovation

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has also created an activist platform where you can contact your representative or Senator: Take Action Now.
Or you can go to the Strike Against Censorship Site to sign that petition.

Those of you who are not citizens of the US can still sign a petition to the state department. I just did!

I want to share this call because I deem this is serious. We have similar attempts at installing Internet censure by means of "Copyright protection" (or rather "Schutz vor Urheberrechtsverletzungen") down here in Europe, but since most servers of the free Internet are hosted in the USA, the impact of installing this huge means of and for censure in the name of copyright protection there would be far more serious!

Quote from the Avaaz website:
Save The Internet!

Right now, the US Congress is debating a law that would give them the power to censor the world's Internet -- creating a blacklist that could target YouTube, WikiLeaks and even groups like Avaaz!

Under the new law, the US could force Internet providers to block any website on suspicion of violating copyright or trademark legislation, or even failing to sufficiently police their users' activities. And, because so much of the Internet's hosts and hardware are located in the US, their blacklist would clamp down on the free web for all of us.

The vote could happen any day now, but we can help stop this -- champions in Congress want to preserve free speech and tell us that an international outcry would strengthen their hand. Let’s urgently raise our voices from every corner of the world and build an unprecedented global petition calling on US decision makers to reject the bill and stop Internet censorship. Sign now and then forward as widely as possible -- our message will be delivered directly to key members of the US Congress ahead of the crucial vote.

sing the petition here

Edit: Here is some more information about the bill this is trying to stop:
SOPA

Since I have gotten my Internet back only today

A very happy belated birthday to randy_o!

who had his birthday at the 11th, when I could not be online due to lack of Internet.

I hope you had a wonderful day! All the best for the next year of life and many happy returns!