I've been avoiding the topic because it really irritates me, but my country's been on a bit of a downward decline as far as censorship of the internet is concerned. Not too long ago, the Department of Homeland Security seized a bunch of domain name (illegally, no less) and shut them down, to fight IP infringement or some such shit. It's illegal because there was no due process, which is guaranteed by the fifth amendment. The list of sites was, of course, supplied by

story: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20023918-93.html
a less friendly view of it: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/201012 ... -law.shtml

Also, a big chunk of Congress has been trying to pass COICA (Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act), which is another obviously MPAA/RIAA inspired piece of attempted censorship. It was held up, but a bunch of companies recently sent an open letter to a butt-ton of government leaders in an attempt to encourage its passing. To me, that's a who's who of who to avoid giving money to. Some are pretty obvious bastards.

story: http://www.zdnet.com.au/us-piracy-bill- ... 308676.htm

The companies to hate:
* Nike - Beaverton, OR
* Achushnet - Fairhaven, MA
* Curb Music Publishing - Nashville, TN
* NBC Universal - New York, NY
* Viacom - New York, NY
* Callaway - Carlsbad, CA
* Cleveland Golf - Huntington Beach, CA
* Rosetta Stone - Arlington, VA
* Activision - Santa Monica, CA
* Adidas Group - Portland, OR
* Xerox - Norwalk, CT
* Hastings Entertainment, Inc. - Amarillo, TX
* Fortune Brands - Deerfield, IL
* Coty Inc. - New York, NY
* EDGE Entertainment Distribution - Streetsboro, OH
* Oakley, Inc. - Foothill Ranch, CA
* PING - Phoenix, AZ
* Louis Vuitton - New York, NY
* D'Addario and Company - Farmingdale, NY
* Monster Cable Products, Inc. - Brisbane, CA
* Tiffany and Co. - New York, NY
* Farouk Systems, Inc. - Houston, TX
* Beam Global - Deerfield, IL
* Chanel USA - New York, NY
* True Religion Apparel, Inc. - Vernon, CA
* Concord Music Group - Beverly Hills, CA
* Village Roadshow Pictures - Beverly Hills, CA
* National Basketball Association - New York, NY
* National Football League - New York, NY
* The Collegiate Licensing Company/IMG College - Atlanta, GA
* Anderson Merchandisers - Amarillo, TX
* Trans World Entertainment Corporation - Albany, NY
* Timberland - Stratham, NH
* Major League Baseball - New York, NY
* Lightening Entertainment/Mainline Releasing - Santa Monica, CA
* Sierra Pictures - Beverly Hills, CA
* Voltage Pictures LLC - Los Angeles, CA
* Worldwide Film Entertainment LLC - Westchester, CA
* Nu Image, Inc. - Los Angeles, CA
* Burberry Limited - New York, NY
* Big Machine Records - Nashville, TN
* The Little Film Company - Studio City, CA
* Columbia Sportswear Company - Portland, OR

/rant

So basically you will never attend or watch any American sports event anymore? I mean with the NHL, MLB and NBA all being on the list. Maybe you can watch Major League Soccer! (haha)

But that is pretty fucked up. Homeland Security is a cancer to America, like a Gestapo-light. Good thing these things are brought to light. Kinda scary how it does the bidding of corporate America on nothing more than a simple request, too.

yea, that's our government. Of course, government has always been controlled by those with the most power, but damn, they could do a better job of not making it so obvious, right?

I don't watch any sports, so no worries on that.