Oregon senator Ron Wyden is one of three lawmakers that introduced a bill today to protect the free and open internet while still enforcing copyright violations. The bill, known as the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade, or OPEN Act, provides an alternative to the controversial PROTECT Act currently under consideration in the Senate, and the SOPA, or Stop Online Piracy Act, in the house.
Those two Acts have been criticized for their plan to completely change the architecture of the internet in addition to imposing a censorship regime on all internet content.
KBOO’s Jenka Soderberg spoke with Parker Higgins of the Electronic Frontier Foundation about this new bill.
Over the weekend, hundreds of supporters of immigrant rights gathered in downtown Portland to commemorate International Migrants Day. Speakers at the rally in the South Park Blocks Saturday morning spoke of the need for national legislation providing a real path to citizenship for immigrants, and encouraged the passage of the DREAM Act to allow children born abroad but raised in the U-S to be able to become citizens.
KBOO’s Anna Preble was there, and spoke with some of the participants in the march and rally:
On Saturday, around 100 people marched through downtown Portland to protest certain provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act passed by Congress last week. Most of the protesters are part of the Portland branch of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. At one point they occupied a mall to urge shoppers to read about the bill.
Pacifica reporter Africa Jones brings us the sounds of the protest:
Amid record low congressional approval, the City Club of Portland will excludes third party candidates from their election forum slated for January 6th.
Progressive Party candidate Steven Reynolds protested his- and Libratarian candidate James Foster's - exclusion from this influential forum outside the Governor Hotel in Downtown Portland.
KBOO's Joe Meyer spoke with Mr. Reynolds at the protest and filed the audio report.
The percentage of births to teen mothers in Oregon dropped a full point between 2009 and 2010, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Planned Parenthood credits a combination of innovative education programs and more parent involvement
Tonight, Eugene’s city council will vote on the future of the Occupy Eugene movement.
KBOO reporter Zoe Carpenter got details from Michael Carrigan, a community organizer with the Community Alliance of Eugene, a peace and justice group that has been involved with Occupy Eugene.
Mumia Abu Jamal has always maintained his innocence in the shooting of Daniel Faulkner in 1981, but says the racially-charged atmosphere surrounding his case prevented him from receiving a fair trial. Noelle Hanrahan with prison radio says that politics played a big role in the thirty-year struggle to get Mumia off death row.
Mumia Abu Jamal is well known for his weekly commentaries on world events, which are broadcast on KBOO and hundreds of other radio stations around the world. According to Noelle Hanrahan, who records the weekly commentaries, Mumia’s reputation as a journalist has contributed to the publicity around his case:
