Tim Hwang has a way of clearly articulating the path forward for Free Culture. Tim, formerly of Harvard Free Culture and now a Berkman Center researcher, recently gave a talk up at the University of Alberta that in many ways is a follow-up to his blog post prior to Free Culture 2008 that probed the future of Students for Free Culture.

In it, Tim posits that the copyfight – the effort started by Stallman, expanded by Lessig & traditionally undertaken by Students for Free Culture – is largely over. There are certainly important issues still at play in that cause, but as Tim explains in the speech here and slides below, the cause of digital freedom has evolved to include much more.

Three important changes in the digital ecosystem have given rise to new issues. In Tim’s thoughtful reckoning, cloud computing, increased bandwidth and broad web services have drastically changed the battle from one of well-structure copyright to one that involves previously unconsidered challenges including:

• Privacy, interoperability and portability
• Filtration
• Access to knowledge

As he notes, the Open University Campaign has positioned SFC to deal with many of these new battles for online freedom, but as we continue to move forward, it will be important to bear in mind the lessons Tim outlines. So take a listen and chime in with your comments!

This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 7:07 pm and is filed under Blog, Commentary, The Movement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.