Back in January, thousands of websites, including Wikipedia, went dark to protest legislation in Congress aimed at combating copyright infringement. Opponents of the bills, known as SOPA and PIPA, said the measures amounted to Internet censorship. And as the web protests went viral, many lawmakers retracted their support for the bills.

Now, the organizers behind that protest have formed a new coalition aimed at harnessing the same online organizing muscle to fight other measures believed to threaten online freedoms.

The group is likening itself to the Internet’s “bat signal.”

The coalition, called The Internet Defense League, was recently formed by the nonprofit Fight for the Future. Tiffany Cheng, co-founder of Fight for the Future, said the coalition’s members thus far include several web companies and activists who reach millions of Internet users, including Alexis Ohanian, founder of the social news site Reddit.

“Think of it like the Internet’s Emergency Broadcast System, or its bat signal,”

The site will officially launch in the next two weeks.

The story can be found here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 25, 2012 – This is to inform you of a product recall involving:

All Sterile Human and Veterinary Prescriptions Distributed by Franck’s Pharmacy From November 21, 2011 to May 21, 2012.

This recall is being initiated after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) notified us that environmental sampling of our clean room revealed the presence of microorganisms and fungal growth. In light of the FDA’s findings and the resulting possible risk of infection, we have decided that it is imperative that we recall all human and veterinary sterile preparations that have left our control. Accordingly, we are extending the recall to all sterile preparations we have provided to you since November 21, 2011.

If any of these sterile preparations remains under your control, it is essential that you do not use them and that employing appropriate practices, you destroy all such sterile preparations and all remaining portions of such sterile preparations.

This recall should be carried out to the User/Physician level. Your assistance is appreciated and necessary to prevent patient illness. Physicians should be advised to review and evaluate their patient records to determine if any adverse events may have resulted from use of the recalled products. Please report any adverse events to Franck’s Compounding Pharmacy and FDA’s MedWatch program.

FDA will expect us to be able to account for all of the sterile preparations subject to this recall. As a result, it is critically important that you read, complete, and return the enclosed response form as soon as possible.

We will update you with any relevant details as they become available to us. If you have any questions please call us at 352-690-6773, Monday through Friday from 9AM to 5 PM, EST.

This recall is being made with the knowledge of the Food and Drug Administration.

A new, groundbreaking feature documentary about the roots of the American economic crisis, and the continuing assault on working and middle class people in the United States. “Heist” boldly reveals the crumbling structure of the U.S. economy – the result of four decades of deregulation, massive job outsourcing, and tax policies favoring mega-corporations and wealthy elites.

Through expert testimony, investigative filmmaking and key archival footage, “Heist” unfolds critical historical background, beginning with the dismantling of FDR’s New Deal, uncovering the ideological influence of the infamous Powell Memo and the Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership on government reform, and traces both Republican and Democratic allegiance to big business.

After detailing how the economy has been derailed, “Heist” offers a robust Take Action section with real world solutions and up-to-the-minute footage from the current Occupy Wall Street movement – an essential primer for everyday Americans to participate in the restoration of economic fairness and our democracy.

A movie with its pulse on the most urgent issues of our time, “Heist” aspires to spark national dialogue, champion solutions and encourage audiences to engage with one another to understand how we might create a fair, sustainable economy.

Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?

Hulu’s owners – Disney, News Corp. and Comcast, which respectively own ABC, Fox and NBC – want to ruin the future of TV.1 If they have their way, you’ll need a cable subscription to watch any TV show on the Internet.

They want to move to a so-called “authentication” system that would allow only cable TV subscribers to access shows on Hulu.

It’s just the latest in their ongoing efforts to derail Internet innovation and control the future of television. Sign this letter to stop Disney, News Corp. and Comcast from putting the Internet genie back in the bottle.

Sign the Petition

Hulu has created a revolution in how millions watch TV – putting control over what what we watch in the hands of viewers. But your decision to allow only cable subscribers to access TV shows on Hulu would take away all that.

The Internet is the future of TV. Stop trying to derail innovation. Reverse your backwards decision to restrict access to TV programming online.

Immigrants For Sale is a ground-breaking online documentary series that goes inside the private immigrant detention industry, through the lens of those most impacted, the players behind the trade and the multi-billion dollar profits that fuel it all.

This is EPISODE 1, Animated Intro, by Brave New Foundation

The documentary is broken down into 11 online episodes.  

Here are EPISODES 2 through 11.

Chair of the Democratic National Committee Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz:  Just Say No to Corrections Corporation of America.

Why is FL Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz siding with the Corrections Corporation of America and not her constituents in Southwest Ranches? 98% of her constituents DO NOT want a new for-profit immigrant detention center!

You can sign the petition here:  Debbie: Say No To CCA!

The Long Shadow of Chernobyl  $6.99

Photographer Gerd Ludwig, considered one of the leading documentary photographers of our time, introduces his premiere app for the iPad, the most comprehensive photographic coverage of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to date. Spanning nearly two decades of documentation, his groundbreaking work explores the human and environmental impacts since the disaster, including photos from Ludwig’s most recent trip to Chernobyl, taken in early 2011 as the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant was unfolding.

That’s what you’ll hear one cop say on the video at 2:33 after the cops violently grab a man from his car, throw him on the ground, one puts his knee in the man’s ribs, another kicks his face.   Except the driver was not in any medical condition to hurt anyone.

Of course, there is always the possibility that one cop could have sprained his ankle or pulled a hamstring when he kicked a defenseless man.  Or perhaps the other cop could have twisted his knee while planting it into a defenseless man’s ribs.  It could happen, ya know.

Adam Greene is on his stomach as a pack of police officers pile on him, driving their knees into his back and wrenching his arms and legs. One officer knees him in the ribs; another kicks him in the face.

“Stop resisting,” officers on the video yell, but Greene, his face pushed into the pavement, hasn’t resisted. He doesn’t even move — maybe can’t move — because he’s gone into diabetic shock caused by low blood sugar.

Do not move

Stop resisting, motherfucker

Video shows officers beating motorist in diabetic shock

Neil Young is right – piracy is the new radio

As an artist who probably makes a substantial income from licensing his music, you might think Neil Young would frown on piracy and file-sharing, but that appears not to be the case, according to an interview he gave at the Dive Into Media conference in Los Angeles. Instead of railing against file-sharers, Young called piracy “the new radio” because it’s “how music gets around.” The musician’s comment puts a lot of the hysteria about copyright infringement into perspective – as we’ve pointed out before, file-sharing and monetization aren’t mutually exclusive, and in many cases a certain amount of so-called “piracy” can actually be good for business, as authors, musicians and even game developers have come to realize.