Authentic Voices. Important Topics.

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Copyfight!
A Lecture About File-Sharing

Have you ever...

• ...watched a video clip on YouTube?
• ...Recorded a TV show to watch later?
• ...Viewed Facebook from a school machine?
• ...Forwarded an email without permission?
• ...Posted anonymously on a discussion site?
• ...Transferred a DVD to watch on your iPod?

Answer "yes", and somebody out there already thinks you're a criminal. And if it's not already illegal, they're out to ban it.

From the Internet to the iPod, technologies are transforming our society and empowering us as citizens, creators, and consumers. But new media technologies and their legal implications are turning everyday acts into prosecutable offences. In the name of fighting "pirates," the music and entertainment industry are pushing to extend copyright law and limit everyone's fair use rights.

Where will it stop? Will everyone eventually be a copyright criminal?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) explores the strange new world of digital technologies with a talk d emonstrating how the legal and technological landscape is changing for better and for worse. This is an emerging topic: colleges and universities have received thousands more legal notices about file sharing this academic year alone.

The EFF lecture will explore this zone from every angle: from what's legal and what's not, to the rights we are in danger of losing, and steps you can take to protect them.

Does your school have a comprehensive policy about file sharing and internet use? The EFF is currently working with the Californian Department of Education to develop guidelines for educating students about copyright, and can consult with administrators to develop policies that protect creativity and academic freedom, while helping protect the school from liability.

About EFF

When freedoms in the networked world come under attack, the EFF is the first line of defense. EFF confronts cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights. EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights. Blending the expertise of lawyers, policy analysts, activists, and technologists, EFF achieves significant victories on behalf of consumers and the general public. EFF fights for freedom primarily in the courts, bringing and defending lawsuits even when that means taking on the US government or large corporations. By mobilizing more than 50,000 concerned citizens through our Action Center, EFF beats back bad legislation. In addition to advising policymakers, EFF educates the press and public and supports the development of freedom-enhancing inventions. For more information about the EFF visit www.eff.org.

About Danny O'Brien

Danny O'Brien is the International Outreach Coordinator for the EFF. Danny has documented and fought for digital rights in the UK for over a decade, where he also assisted in building tools of open democracy. He co-edits the award-winning NTK newsletter, has written and presented science and travel shows for the BBC, performed a solo show about the Net in the London's West End, and once successfully lobbied a cockney London pub to join Richard M. Stallman in a spontaneous demonstration of Bulgarian folk dance.

About the Lecture

"EFF is the world's most dedicated, most effective copyright reform organization. No one has done more to keep the Internet free. And no one is more lucid, entertaining, and above all, *funnier* than Danny O'Brien at explaining this stuff."

Cory Doctorow
Editor, BoingBoing.net
science fiction author
Senior Fellow, USC Annenberg Center for Communication

"I first met Danny in Edinburgh in 1994 where he was performing a one-man show, entitled 'Caught in the Net', that was so far ahead of its time it pre-dated the WWW and dot.com millionaires. He was funny and intelligent and insightful and articulate and, somewhat surprisingly, handsome. And funny. After the show he chatted to his mum for a few hours while I sat counting famous people in the bar who were waiting to buy him drinks. Then, when I got to the front of the queue, I bought him drinks and we chatted for a few hours about how this internet thing would change the nature of democracy as we knew it. We decided to be friends. Since that time he has lived and worked at the cutting edge of international media with a pace and urgency verging on somnambulism. However, he also has one or two unfinished projects, a dozen or so nascent projects, a number of fragmentary projects and quite a lot of projects still to be completed and it would not be entirely untrue to say, has a slight tendency to leave things - particularly things pertaining to work or clothing - undone. Despite this, or maybe even because of this, he is frequently buzzing off to appear on TV, radio, stage or to open a (smaller) supermarket, and although he most often arrives late - or at least, if you take all things into consideration, bearing in mind the traffic, and the weather, and the state of the economy and... hmm... where on earth did he put his other shoelace... then, at a pinch, just about more or less on time - he always, always gives good speeches."

Tony Ageh
Controller
BBC Internet

To book this speaker, call 206-529-4711 or email info@samaralectures.com