The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Tech

A collab-oration that includes several large ISPs has recently been announced. The plan would call for the ISPs, including Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner, etc., to slow down, redirect, or possibly even cut off internet access for people accused of copyright infringement. [Wired]

If you have never heard of Dropbox you should know they are taking the time to do right by their users. They recently updated their TOS to be explicitly clear: your stuff belongs to you. A direct quote from the new TOS: “You retain full ownership to your stuff. We don’t claim any ownership to any of it.” Companies like Facebook that intentionally write in vague and broad language into their TOS should take a page out of Dropbox’s book and realize that users appreciate honesty and privacy. [Dropbox Blog]

Bob Lutz, the former Vice chairman of General Motors, has stated that his way to get the economy going is to take the power away from the MBA’s and give it back to the engineers. Personally, I find his argument that consumers are best served by a product-driven philosophy very agreeable. [TIME]

A group of 90 law professors has banded together to oppose the Protect IP Act that is making it’s way through Congress on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment right to free speech. [ars technica]