[Blindtlk] FW: [censored]

Sat Jan 14 03:50:54 UTC 2012

Hi Steve,

Yes, good point.  I understand.  I don't remember the email you 
refer to here, but I do remember something going around when 
Facebook made that controversial change to their Web site saying 
that they would soon charge people to use Facebook's services.  
This, of course, caused a lot of outrage among the Facebook user 
community, until a few of us set the record straight on our own 
pages.  One such incident happened very recently, when a friend 
of mine forwarded an email with the very alarming subject line 
"new computer virus: total distruction, no repair" to the 
BrailleNote users list (which I'm on) and to me privately.  This 
email was an urgent warning not to open any emails, regardless of 
the sender and that person's relationship to you, which had an 
attachment named "invitation Facebook." According to the email, 
opening of this attachment would start to run a trojan horse 
virus on your computer called an "Olympic torch" which would 
completely destroy your C drive (the drive that has all your 
information, computer settings, and information for the programs 
on your computer) and in turn would destroy all functionality of 
the effected computer.  This destruction, according to the 
writer, had no repair; when this virus got into your computer, it 
was all over.  The message also included a link to Snopes, where, 
according to the body of the message, the truth of this statement 
could be verified.  I personally did not check Snopes, as I was 
on a plane to Florida (I'm here with my family for the long 
weekend) and reading emails that had previously been downloaded 
at the time I read this email, and had no Wifi access with which 
to check this Web site.  But fortunately, a few people on the 
BrailleNote list did check the Snopes page; the link to what was 
supposed to be verification of the truth of this virus's 
existence, and found...  that it was a hokes! Really? So whoever 
the writer was of this email provided a link to a Snopes page on 
this subject that was supposed to prove the virus's existence, 
but actually said that it wasn't true! Did they not think someone 
would actually check that Web site out? Wow! I don't understand 
how they could've missed that one!

Chris

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The 
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that 
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and 
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical 
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan

 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com
To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:42:51 -0600
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: [censored]

Chris,

The difference is that we know the individuals involved and know 
that this isn't just some sort of
internet thing floating around when we're talking about our 
bills.  You are probably new enough to all
of this to not have seen it, but there was an urgent e-mail 
saying that the post office was going to
start charging people for using e-mail, and it urged you to write 
to Congress.  That e-mail would show
up every year, I think in February, for probably ten years at 
least and there was never a bill, but it
was urgent.  The point is that unless you know the person who 
actually originated the note, and I don't
mean the person who forwarded it, you should be skeptical.  For 
us to tell our own members on our own
list that we will be introducing a bill but it doesn't have a 
number yet is a completely different
thing.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:35:46 -0600, Chris Nusbaum wrote:

David,

But some of the bills NFB advocates for haven't been introduced
yet either, and we send out emails about the bill without a
number.  See the recent email with the agenda for Washington
Seminar; 2 of the bills didn't have numbers because they haven't
been formally introduced in Congress, the Americans with
Disabilities Business Opportunity Act (ADBOA) and the Home
Appliance Accessibility Act (HAAA.)

Chris

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan

 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Hyde, David W.  (ESC)" <david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us
To: 'Blind Talk Mailing List' <blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 07:15:55 -0600
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: [censored]

I must agree with others.  If this bill has been introduced, it
has a number.  If it doesn't have a number, it hasn't been
introduced.  If it hasn't been introduced, this is merely one of
those spams that goes around every so often.  At the risk of
seeming strident, either post the House or Senate bill number, or
stop posting about it.

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Eric Calhoun
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 2:02 AM
To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Blindtlk] FW: [censored]

See this, Chris?  This one affects all blind people.  It talks
about the bill, its intent, and why people should sign the
petition.

Eric

Original Message:
From: "Jess Kutch, Change.org" <mail at change.org
To: eric at pmpmail.com
Subject: [censored]
Date:
Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:58:45 -0800

Congress has a plan to change the Internet forever.  A bill
they're debating right now would give the government power to
shut down whole websites, and even let corporations say which
websites should be shut down.

That means a huge corporation could have any website even
suspected of violating a copyright shut down -- no questions
asked.  The government could then completely block all access to
sites as big as Facebook or YouTube if one person posts one thing
on those websites that corporations don't want online.

Most major entertainment companies have come out in support of
the bill, but despite swirling rumors, the huge video-gaming
company Electronic Arts
(EA) has yet to take an official stance.  However, EA is part of
the Entertainment Software Association, one of the big corporate
lobbyists for the bill to censor the Internet -- meaning that if
EA came out against the bill, that would be a serious blow to the
people trying to get it passed.

Shashank Kasturirangan is a student at NYU who's a huge fan of
gaming -- including EA's games -- but he can't believe that EA
would want to mess with the Internet.  Shashank started a
petition on Change.org calling on Electronic Arts to stop
lobbying for Congress's plan to censor the Internet and come out
against the bill.  Click here to add your name to his petition.

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-electronic-arts-to-oppose-in
ternet-cens
orship?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&alert_id=dZDVYxQm
LI_oLKqgeiB
KM&me=aa

The Internet censorship bill is particularly dangerous, according
to advocates, because it would enable the government to set up
the same type of tools to block online content that are used in
repressive regimes around the world, like China, Iran, and Syria.
For the first time, corporations and the government would be able
to say what's acceptable to put on the Internet.

While some companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter have come
out against the bill, big movie studios, record companies, and
their corporate lobbyists like the Entertainment Software
Association are pushing Congress hard to pass Internet
censorship.

Electronic Arts has millions of customers around the world
playing video games like Madden 2012, The Sims, and Scrabble, and
they care deeply about what the public thinks about their
company.  If enough people call on EA to oppose the plan to
censor the Internet, they will be forced to come out against the
bill.  And if EA backs off, other companies that haven't yet
taken a position will certainly think twice before supporting
Congress's plan to censor the Internet.

Sign Shashank's petition to Electronic Arts to stop lobbying for
Internet censorship and oppose the bill in Congress.  Click here
to sign.

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-electronic-arts-to-oppose-in
ternet-cens
orship?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&alert_id=dZDVYxQm
LI_oLKqgeiB
KM&me=aa

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Jess and the Change.org team

You are receiving this action alert as a Change.org member.  We
send no more than one action alert per week.  To stop receiving
these important alerts on behalf of our organization sponsors,
you can unsubscribe by copying the url below and pasting it into
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l_id=XFMUGF
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dZDVYxQmLI_
oLKqgeiBKM&me=aa

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