Policy Blog Entries by Mehan Jayasuriya

For those of us who believe that the Internet should remain an open, democratic and non-discriminatory platform, with few exceptions, the last two years have brought a steady stream of bad news from Down Under. First, there were rumblings that Australia was seeking to implement a "three strikes" policy toward those accused of online filesharing. Next, New Zealand came close to instituting its own three strikes mandate, though thanks to the efforts of activists, that deeply-flawed law was struck down at the last minute. Finally, after a number of previous, failed attempts, the Australian government announced that it plans to mandate the use of real-time filtering technologies on public ISPs sometime during the next year.

Just when it seemed like no one in the Australian and New Zealand governments appreciated the damaging effects of such policies, an Australian federal court judge has ruled that the ISP iiNet is not responsible for the actions of its subscribers. In the landmark ruling (full text here), which will likely have ramifications in the U.S. and elsewhere, the judge rebuffs Hollywood's attempt to require iiNet to act as a copyright cop, dealing a blow to three strikes in the process. Let's take a closer look.

If you attended our World’s Fair Use Day “Movie Night” on Monday, you got a sneak peek at Copyright Criminals, Kembrew McLeod’s excellent documentary on the legal ramifications of sampling in hip-hop, which features interviews with members of Public Enemy, De La Soul, George Clinton, author Jeff Chang and famed funk drummer Clyde Stubblefield. For those interested in watching the film in its entirety, it will be airing on PBS this coming Tuesday, January 19th (check your local listings for times). Afterward, it will also be available through cable On Demand services, as well as at PBS.org. Meanwhile, Brett Gaylor’s RIP: A Remix Manifesto, which documents remix culture through interviews with Girl Talk, Lawrence Lessig and Cory Doctorow, can be viewed free of charge at Hulu. Many thanks to all who came to and participated in World’s Fair Use Day—we hope to see you all again next year!

The first annual World's Fair Use Day is almost upon us! The festivities kick off on Monday, January 11th, with an ACTA discussion and happy hour hosted by Google, followed by a "Movie Night," consisting of clips from the films RIP: A Remix Manifesto and Copyright Criminals with a discussion between directors Brett Gaylor and Kembrew McLeod, hosted by Negativland's Mark Hosler, to follow.

We at Public Knowledge are thrilled to announce the first annual World's Fair Use Day (WFUD), a day-long celebration of creativity, innovation and remix culture to be held at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on January 12th, 2010. Fair use is the legal right that allows creators to make limited uses of copyrighted materials for purposes like comment, criticism and education. At World's Fair Use Day, we'll demonstrate how fair uses of existing works, ranging from recontextualized audio mashups to documentary films, enrich our culture and contribute to the ongoing dialog on copyright. Speakers at the event will include Ben Huh (CEO of the Cheezburger Network, the publishing company behind ICanHasCheezburger and FailBlog), Dan Walsh (creator of the web comic "Garfield Minus Garfield"), Pennsylvania Congressman and mashup fan Mike Doyle, TechDirt founder Mike Masnick, mashup artist DJ Earworm and many more. The night before the main event, we'll kick things off with a "Movie Night," hosted by Mark Hosler of the pioneering audio collage band Negativland and featuring Brett Gaylor, director of RIP: A Remix Manifesto and Kembrew McLeod, director of Copyright Criminals. To view the full list of speakers and schedule and to RSVP, visit wfud.info.

Last week, the New York City Council Committee on Technology in Government convened a hearing to discuss a proposed Net Neutrality resolution. Our own Art Brodsky testified alongside other Net Neutrality advocates, showing support for strong Net Neutrality regulations that would preserve the web's nondiscriminatory nature. If you want to skip ahead, Art's statement begins just after the 30 minute mark.

Last week, Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin appeared as a guest on MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show" to discuss the ongoing net neutrality debate, specifically the deceptively-named "Internet Freedom Act," proposed by Arizona Senator John McCain.

If you're reading this post, chances are that you're pretty familiar with the concept of net neutrality and understand what's at stake in the debate surrounding the FCC's proposed rules. But what about your parents, grandparents, friends and significant others? If you know someone who could use a quick primer on net neutrality, send them a link to this five minute video. Directed by PK board member Jesse Dylan and featuring PK president Gigi Sohn alongside a sampling of the usual suspects (Professors Lawrence Lessig and Ed Felton, members of the band Ok Go, Free Press' Ben Scott, etc.), the video explains what net neutrality is and why it's critical that we preserve the free and open nature of the Internet. Help us protect free speech, innovation and economic opportunity--help spread the word by forwarding this video along to friends and family.

If you've been following the net neutrality news lately, you likely know that tomorrow will mark a historic turning point in the ongoing debate: for the first time, the FCC will convene a rulemaking to specifically address the issue of net neutrality. Of course, the opponents of net neutrality aren't going down without a fight. They've been pulling out all the stops lately: lobbying members of Congress, spreading Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt and even pressuring employees and their families to go on the anti-net neutrality offensive. In so doing, the big telcos had hoped to suppress the debate surrounding the FCC's proposed rules before those rules were even announced. Instead, their "shock and awe" campaign backfired, triggering an incredible response from civil rights groups, corporate CEOs, venture capital firms, the public interest community and just about anyone else you can think of who has a stake in the Internet remaining free and open. The last few days have brought an avalanche of letters asking Congress and the Commission to protect the most valuable platform that we have for innovation, civic discourse and education. We've collected links to some of these letters after the break and will continue to update this list as more letters are published:

Did you miss our 2009 IP3 Awards ceremony last week? Worry not—we’ve got you covered. Above, you’ll see a “highlights reel” from the awards ceremony, which honored outstanding achievement to further the public interest in the areas of intellectual property, information policy and Internet protocol. In addition to this year’s award winners (Sarah Deutsch of Verizon, Karen Jackson of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Siva Vaidhyanathan of the University of Virginia and Sascha Meinrath of the Open Technology Initiative), the video features appearances by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Virginia Senator Mark Warner and Free Press’ Ben Scott. If you’d like to watch the full 23-minute awards ceremony, check out the “director’s cut” video, embedded after the break. Thanks again to the award winners, our sponsors and all who attended.