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Internet freedom advocates are finding creative ways to get their message out to the masses.

Source: http://www.dccomics.comThe latest unique effort comes from Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian and online advocacy group Fight for the Future. Their plan: a "Bat-Signal for the Internet." According to Forbes, once it launches next month it will provide participating website administrators with code they can add to their sites that can be triggered in the case of a freedom-infringing episode.

The code will add to the sites widgets or banners that ask users to do things like call politicians or boycott companies. It supposedly even could trigger another blackout similar to the one that occurred in January when Google, Wikipedia, Craigslist and other sites went dark and posted messages in protest of SOPA.

Legislation such as SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA, which threaten the freedom of the Internet, seem to be popping up like a game of Whac-a-Mole and squashing them means online advocates rallying their followers. This is apparently another way to do it.

"People who wish to be tapped can see, 'Oh look, the Bat-Signal is up. Time to do something,'" said Ohanian. "Whatever website you own, this is a way for you to be notified if something comes up and take some basic actions ... If we aggregate everyone thats doing it, the numbers start exploding."

According to Forbes, Fight for the Future and Ohanian have been focused most recently on defeating CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protect Act. The bill, which was passed in the House of Representatives last month, aims to protect the U.S. from cyber terrorism and other online attacks. One of two versions of the bill will likely come up for a vote in the Senate early next month.

The problem with CISPA is it includes a provision that would let companies share users' private data with government agencies, and not just regarding threats of cyber attacks; companies will now be able to share users' private data in the event of "computer crime," exploitation of minors, and to protect individuals from "the danger of death or serious bodily harm."

This broad definition has privacy watchdogs up in arms.

Rainey Reitman, activism director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is an outspoken contributor to the CISPA debate. In a radio debate last month, Reitman said that while CISPA proponents employ rhetoric that the bill will "fend off a cyber Pearl Harbor," what they're really doing is inciting fears of security threats when, in fact, such concerns have existed for years. "I do think there is a need for companies to get more information from the government in a timely fashion. The problem that arises with CISPA is that it does so much more than that," she said.

"It also opens the floodgates for companies to intercept communications of everyday Internet users and pass unredacted personal information to the governments," she said, adding that several amendments to the bill would have addressed such concerns but they never made it to the House floor for a vote.

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Internet Freedom Advocates Take a Page From Caped Crusader

On Thursday, President Obama ordered each branch of the federal government to develop at least two apps, providing access to essential services on mobile phones.

Obama also said that it will continue to work hard to make greater amounts of data available to the public, as part of a digital strategy that will use the data to create more opportunities.

The administration also said that it would create a "Presidential Innovation Fellows program" to bring in outside talent and ask them to make health, education, energy, safety, and personal finance information that the government already collects more accessible and consumer-friendly. The newly-appointed U.S. chief technology officer, Todd Park, will oversee the operation.

"Americans deserve a government that works for them anytime, anywhere, and on any device," Obama said in a statement. "By making important services accessible from your phone and sharing government data with entrepreneurs, we are giving hard-working families and businesses tools that will help them succeed."

Managing the flow of information and making it more digestible to consumers not only benefits Americans, but creates jobs, Obama said. For his part, Park invoked the transfer of GPS satellite technology from the military to the private sector, a huge creator of jobs.

"The release of government weather and GPS data has already led to countless entrepreneurial innovations, which have made life easier for America's families while also creating multi-billion-dollar industries and generating jobs," Park said in a statement. "The initiatives we're launching today will make government data resources even more accessible to the public and to entrepreneurs who can turn these data into services that can help Americans find the best doctor for their family, choose the college that offers them the most value for their money, save money on their energy bills through smarter shopping, and much more."

In January, Obama sent Congress a proposal intended to assist startups and small businesses. The effort, dubbed the Startup America Legislative Agenda, would rework small business taxes, facilitate new funding options, and look to broaden the pool of foreign-born entrpreneurs allowed to start businesses in this country.

For more from Mark, follow him on Twitter @MarkHachman.

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Obama Calls for Govt. Apps as Part of Digital Strategy

By Catherine Ostler

PUBLISHED: 16:51 EST, 25 May 2012 | UPDATED: 00:32 EST, 26 May 2012

Hector Christie is such a rebel, he even rebels against the rebels

There cant have been many protesters at last winters anti-capitalist encampment in the City of London who had chosen the tents on the steps of St Pauls Cathedral over their own roomy Queen Anne stately home, set among 6,000 picturesque acres of the West Country.

For that matter, there cant be many members of Take Back The Flour, the anti-GM foods protest group which is planning to invade and uproot GM crops at the Rothamsted Research centre in Hertfordshire tomorrow, who can claim aristocratic lineage, an Eton education and a trust fund.

But then Hector Christie is not your average eco-warrior.

In fact, hes such a rebel, he even rebels against the rebels: unwilling to wait for tomorrows protest, it is claimed he went ahead on his own last Sunday and broke into Rothamsted, where he allegedly lopped heads off GM plants, scattered some wheat seed of his own and made a general nuisance of himself, for which he was arrested, charged with criminal damage and released on bail.

He will appear in court in St Albans on July 13 and faces being sent to prison.

This is not the first time that Hector Christie, now 50, has been in trouble.

As the eldest son of Sir George and Lady (Mary) Christie, he is the man who could have been running Glyndebourne, the opera house that sits next to a Tudor home in the bucolic surroundings of the Sussex Downs.

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Britain's poshest protestor: Hector Christie - who gave up his Glyndebourne inheritance on a toss of a coin - was this ...

By Jose Lambiet Gossip Extra

6:14 p.m. EDT, May 25, 2012

Pam Bondi, Floridas comely attorney general, isscheduled to get married to a Tampa doctor tomorrow afternoonin the Cayman Islands, Gossip Extra has learned.

Bondi, 46, is set to tie the knot with fiance Gregory Henderson, an ophthalmologist, about 5 p.m. at the Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman, according to several sources.

Neitherher spokeswomen arent returning calls, buta staffer at the fancy hotel said the Republican bombshellis at her rehearsal dinner tonight.

The wedding issupposed to take place on the great lawn, right in front of the beach, the source said. But the weather her is pretty bad. Its been raining all week,so they might have to move indoors.

Im told about 50 family members and friends areexpected attomorrows ceremony.

AlthoughBondi desperately tried to keep the event a secret, State Senator Paula Dockery let the cat out of the bag on her Facebook page yesterday when she reported seeing Bondi at Tampa Airport and being on the same flight to the islands.

The plane is filled with her wedding party, Dockerys entry reads.

Dockery alsoposte a photo of Bondi (above) playing flight attendant during the trip.

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Dockery leaks AG Pam Bondi's Caymans wedding plans

Student Loans Company head Ed Lester will stand down when his contract expires next year in the wake of controversy over his tax arrangements.

Lester was paid through a company in order legally to reduce his liability for tax until ministers intervened in February this year.

The Student Loans Company said his contract expires at the end of January next year and work had begun to recruit his replacement.

A Student Loans Company spokeswoman said: "Ed Lester's two-year contract ends on 31 January 2013.

"The process to recruit his replacement is under way now to ensure that there is a smooth handover in the change of leadership at the Student Loans Company."

The arrangement for Lester's pay was disclosed in an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) letter obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Exaro News and BBC Newsnight.

Following the revelations in February, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander said the way in which Lester received his 182,000 salary would be changed and launched a review of similar arrangements across Whitehall.

The review identified more than 2,400 cases of public sector staff being employed indirectly - some potentially avoiding full income tax for a decade or more.

Since January, 350 such contracts have been ended and tighter rules have now been introduced.

Yesterday Alexander said everyone in the public sector "should be on the payroll and paying the correct amount of tax".

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Student Loans Chief To Stand Down Over Tax Controversy