The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is being debated in the US House of Representatives today. Wildly unpopular, this bill is the latest in a series of extreme and reactionary legislation that seek a heavy-handed approach to dealing with copyright infringement online. If passed, SOPA would grant broad powers to censor and restrict content on the Internet.

[img_assist|nid=8855|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=213|height=300]Late 2008 a sensational homage to Creative Commons (CC) usage within Australasia was published. Edited by Rachel Cobcroft and produced in collaboration with the team at the Australian Creative Commons Clinic, >Building an Australasian Commons features a vast repertoire of projects and initiatives that have employed Creative Commons licenses.

Women in Africa may be accessing the internet, but are they getting the information they need? Whether they are students, members of civil society, leaders of indigenous communities or women and youth affected by HIV/AIDS, patents and copyrights are making it increasingly difficult for women in Africa to access the information they need. This edition of Gender Centred, a periodic bulletin produced by APC's programme for the GenderIT.org policy site, focuses on the challenges copyright and the lack of information exchange bring to those who need it most, and explores the different issues surrounding open source software, copyright and rights to information.

As new copyright laws attempt to keep pace with the shifting landscape of digital cultural production, legal restrictions on media use and distribution are being championed by heavyweights in the global media industry. This has led to the web of restrictions on media consumption becoming denser. Civil society network APC hopes to re-shape the discourse surrounding piracy by providing a thoroughly researched, credible alternative to the industry’s data.