rock the house like a homespun tornado

swanblood:

unknownbinaries:

“I ordered some video-editing software from Hitfilm in the UK which also comes with some instructional videos. So a few days later I get a call from FedEx saying that the DVDs were being held at U.S. Customs until I filled out a Video Declaration Form, which she said was now standard practice. Now, I’d never heard of this before, so I called back to ensure that this was indeed FedEx and not someone phishing for information. Had them email me the form.

This is what the form said: “I/we declare the the films/videos contain no obscene or immoral matter, nor any matter advocating or urging treason or insurrection against the United States, nor any threat to take the life of or inflict bodily harm upon any person in the United States.”

Now, the first clause I can kinda see, though “immoral” is weird and there’s no standard definition of obscenity in the US, but let that go…what made my eyebrows go up my forehead and down the other side was clause two. So I called back the nice lady at FedEx — who was only following instructions given to her by Customs — and asked what this was all about.

Apparently — and this is only her understanding of the situation — this is a new thing being done by Customs and Homeland Security with FedEx, UPS, and other carriers to make sure that films and videos with ideas or stories that were at odds with the United States Government didn’t get into the country, as it was a form of terrorism (as further elaborated upon in the third and final clause.) She added that some DVDs showing Occupy events in London and elsewhere had gotten bounced because of the concern that these were being used to coordinate activities here (as if with the internet people actually need physical DVDs for that sort of thing but that’s neither here nor there).

Under this new stipulation, if V for Vendetta had, for instance, been produced in the UK (instead of just filmed there), importing it into the US would be considered subject matter “advocating or urging treason or insurrection.” And if you lied about it on the form, you could be held liable for this.

So there are now very literally guardians at the gate ensuring that the wrong sorts of ideas, movies or DVDs are not allowed into the country without investigation and/or prosecution. And most pernicious of all, they don’t actually define what they mean by advocating treason or insurrection, any more than they define what “immoral” means, it’s whatever they decide it means, so you could be breaking the law without knowing you’re doing it, until they decide you’re doing it.

Thoughts?”

Thoughts: this country’s laws and things the government stands for gets more disgusting every day. Those are my thoughts.

Also, this only has a few notes and it’s someone’s personal story, so, probably good to signal boost it because it won’t be going around everywhere…

I’m not sure if it’s a good or a bad thing that I’m totally unsurprised at this.

/casually flips a table

flannpyrope:

turntechdickhead:

selfproclaimedhilarious:

johnwhatsun:

princess-of-dicks:

himapapaftw:

pantskit:

tsarcasm:

this is so absurd that i honestly thought it was a joke until i clicked the link to find out that people in our government are reallythat stupid

are you fucking kidding me

what the actual fuck

wow that is just ridiculous, does this country have any freedom anymore 

omfg

oh god please no

george orwell you prophetic motherfucker i hope youre rolling in your grave with cackles at our foretold misfortune

btw i hope the government likes gratuitous violence and porn because if this goes into affect thats just about all im going to be looking at

gurochan im looking at you

no

no

no

jesus

WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING FUCK.

chocotaur:

Five facts:

1. ACTA isn’t the “European” SOPA. It’s nearly GLOBAL, and will apply to every country that signs the treaty.

2. ACTA is far more aggressive. ACTA will not simply affect websites and have them blocked out of the internet - its measures go as far as surveillance of anything you share through private channels.

3. ACTA doesn’t have a campaign against it that is as wide-spread and organized as the SOPA one. This is DANGEROUS, as there’s less time between now and the final signing of ACTA.

4. ACTA has effects on healthcare, trade, and even tourism.

5. ACTA has to be stopped.

Let’s start spreading the word and organizing a good, solid response to it.

More information:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ56UNL5zeo

how to act against ACTA