Tell Google: Quit the Chamber of Commerce. Help block the INTERNET Censorship Act

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is at the forefront of efforts to pass the Internet Censorship Act, which fundamentally threatens the internet as we know it.



If the bill passes, corporate copyright holders would be able to demand the government shut down a website based on nothing more than an allegation that the website contains copyrighted material. And the government could do this even without a court order.


The free speech implications of this kind of extra-judicial government censorship of the internet is chilling. It's nothing short of an outright attack on our free internet.

Google, which is strongly opposed to the Internet Censorship Act and has an unofficial motto of "Don't be evil," is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. But the Chamber's all-out support of this incredibly dangerous legislation has reportedly caused Google to consider quitting the rightwing organization in protest.
If Google leaves the Chamber, it will further reveal that the Chamber is nothing more than a front group for a small handful of wealthy corporate special interests. And this will further chip away at the Chamber's grandiose claim to broadly represent the interests of the American business community.


We've already seen a number of big corporations including Yahoo and Apple leave the Chamber, and it's a very big deal that Google is reportedly considering the same thing right now.

This is a case where the business interests of Google align with the needs of all of us who depend on the free and open internet.


Progressives have any number of reasons to want to see the influence of the Chamber of Commerce diminish.


As the election season heats up, we'll almost certainly see the Chamber run vicious smear campaigns against people running against any number of rightwing extremists.

But more fundamentally, whether it's shilling for Big Oil or the tobacco companies or media giants, the Chamber is the poster child for how wealthy corporate money corrupts our system of government.

We have a chance now to help Google to do the right thing and quit the Chamber. Now's the time to speak out. Tell Google: Quit the Chamber of Commerce.

Bulls break for the gate; while some struggle to get to find it.

Stocks rose, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its biggest four-day gain since September, and the Dollar Index posted its fourth straight loss after the Greek parliament supported a European bailout and a measure of U.S. business activity improved. Treasuries fell.
Research In Motion succumbed to rising shareholder pressure on Thursday, agreeing to study a split of its co-chair and co-chief executive roles and dodging a showdown at its annual meeting.

RIM said in a statement it would establish a committee of independent directors to study the executive and board roles, and make recommendations for a revised corporate structure.

RIM's problems stem from management not being able to execute on their plans, and few observers see that changing anytime soon.

In turn, activist shareholder Northwest and Ethical Investments withdrew a proposed vote on the issue at RIM's July 12 annual meeting.

"It's a good response to some risks that we spotted in how the company currently operates," said Robert Walker, vice-president of ethical funds at NEI, which will influence the committee's mandate and review its report, due by January.

But for other critics, RIM appeared to have kicked the issue into the long grass. "It smacks of RIM's progress toward solving their other problems, and that is it's glacial," Charter Equity's Edward Snyder said. "This seems like a band-aid solution."

Walker said RIM had reason to take the review seriously.  "The timing is such that we will have a chance to review how RIM has responded and consider whether or not we need to file a resolution for the 2012 AGM," he said.

RIM's committee must make its report public by January 31, 2012 and the board will have 30 days to respond.

Snyder said the vote would have given investors a chance to grill RIM's leaders on their strategy. RIM has delayed launching new smartphones while its PlayBook tablet, designed to compete with Apple's iPad, faced tepid reviews.

RIM's shares have lost half their value this year amid profit warnings, a waning market share and a failure to push out cutting-edge products capable of challenging Apple's iPhone and the slew of devices running on Google's Android software.

An unnamed source identifying himself as a senior RIM executive posted a 1,700-word letter on the Boy Genius Report website on Thursday that attacked the BlackBerry maker for failing to focus on users and developers and questioned whether the co-CEO structure was efficient.

RIM said in response that it was aggressively addressing its challenges as it neared the end of a major business and technology transition.

Investment ideas: Apple, Google.