The government of the United Kingdom plans to allow copyrighted material to be copied for personal use; Julian Assange gives kudos to Bradley Manning from the balcony of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London; meanwhile, South Africa’s ruling party has called for an official boycott on Israel. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

UK Law Relaxed On Digital Copying Making digital copies of music, films and other copyrighted material for personal use is to be made legal for the first time under U.K. government plans.

What Turned Jaron Lanier Against the Web? The digital pioneer and visionary behind virtual reality has turned against the very culture he helped create.

In a Year of Politicians and Bad News, Surprising Stories of Resistance The giddy heights of 2011—the Wisconsin uprising and Occupy Wall Street—yielded this year to a slog of an election season where many crucial questions were not even up for debate, from labor law reform to the minimum wage to climate change.

And All Shall Worship Money If money is now society’s religion, does it then follow that economists are the clergy of the modern age?

Obama Will Ride to the Rescue … for Republicans The Republicans have put themselves in a holy mess with this Plan B debacle.

Boeing Uses Potatoes Instead of People to Test Wi-fi US planemaker Boeing used an unusual substitute for passengers to test its in-flight wi-fi system – potatoes.

Assange Praises Bradley Manning WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange emerged for a rare public address Thursday, praising jailed U.S. soldier Bradley Manning in an address delivered from the balcony of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

South Africa’s ANC Makes Support for Israel Boycott its Official Policy For the first time ever, the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in South Africa, today made the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions on Israel part of its official policy.

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