WIPO Copyright Treaty

The WIPO Copyright Treaty was enstated by the World Intellectual Property Organization on December 20, 1996. (WIPO, a branch of the United Nations, is based in Geneva, Switzerland.) All copyright rules proposed in the United States have to adhere to the WCT as well as the Constitution.

Senate vs. House of Representatives

While reading these posts, you may notice that I mention the House of Representatives or the Senate very specifically. You may wonder "what's the difference? What does it matter if it's presented to either one?" Here are some key differences between the H.R. and the Senate.

1.  The House of Representatives is made of members, elected according to population. The Senate has two members from each state, regardless of population.
2. The House of Representatives has the exclusive power to impeach government officials and to pass financial bills, while the Senate has the sole rights to the advice and consent powers.
3. Though the H.R. can impeach, the impeached official can go up in the Senate for trial.

Social Censorship

Protecting the rights of the media companies is not the only reason censorship has been used. Here in Utah, many radio stations take out swear words in songs. Here are some classic examples of social censorship:

Ever since Mark Twain's book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was released, it has been removed from several required reading list for it's use of the "n-word", which is considered politically incorrect now.

In the late 1930s up to the early 1950s, Looney Tunes created a series of 11 cartoons that would later be called the "Censored Eleven". These cartoons were removed from syndication for racial slurs and inappropriate interpretation of African Americans.

Green Eggs and Ham was temporarily banned in China, for it's "inappropriate interpretation of Marxism". The ban was lifted in 1991.

Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf was banned from several European countries for promoting Hitler's ideas and beliefs.

Book Burnings

Throughout history, book burning has been an effective way of stopping "the enemy's" ideals from "poisoning the minds" of citizens. The following is a timeline of book burning through the ages.

213 B.C.: Emperor Qin Shi Huang orders all books of non-Qin province philosophy to be burned.

31 B.C.- A.D. 476: Romans burns Jewish and Christian scripture all throughout the reign of the Roman Empire.

Abt. 1200-1600: Several popes direct copies of the Talmud to be burned.

Abt. 1500: William Tyndale's English translation of the Bible is burned by priests claiming it is "heresy".

1499: The Spanish Inquisition burns over 5000 Arabic manuscripts

1562: Spanish conquistadors burn sacred Mayan texts

Abt. 1640: Martin Luther's translation of the Bible is burned in Catholic Germany

1730: The Archbishop of Salzburg himself oversees the burning of Protestant bibles.

Abt. 1920: The Soviet Union burns countless numbers of "western" manuscripts

1984: Orthodox Jews burn copies of the New Testament in Jerusalem

1988: The Satanic verse are burned in English towns Bolton and Bradford.

2010: Pastor Terry Jones threatens to burn 200 copies of the Qur'an in retaliation for communist attacks on U.S. Troops.