ARPAnet Interface message processor (IMP), BBN, 1967

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering adopting national rules to protect the open Internet. On January 13, the FCC is hosting a public workshop at MIT that will include some of the founders of the Internet alongside entrepreneurs, technologists, and policymakers (see agenda and panelist bios below).

On one hand, the workshop is an opportunity for community members to hear experts discuss the features of the Open Internet that are important to preserve.

But much more crucially, this workshop is an opportunity to enter your questions, thoughts, concerns, and suggestions into the public record. The FCC will use this information in its decision-making process. Your contributions to this workshop will have have a significant impact on the course of action that the FCC ultimately takes.

Think about it: how does the Internet’s openness affects your ability to work, study, create, and communicate? On what network features do you rely? What have you done with it? What do you hope to do in the future?

There is no doubt that large corporations (like the newly-merged Comcast/NBC Universal) have organized lobbyists to register their interests. Free culture is not their priority.

Who will lobby on behalf of the student, the fan, the hacker, the gamer, and the entrepreneur?

The FCC needs to hear your voice.

Innovation, Investment, and the Open Internet

• January 13th, 2010
• 4:30 pm EST
• MIT Media Lab, Bartos Theater
• Streaming: http://www.openinternet.gov/workshops
• Agenda/ bios: http://wiki.freeculture.org/FCC_Workshop_January_13

If you are local to Boston, please come in person. If you can’t make it at 4:30, it is OK to come late. Simply showing up is a powerful demonstration of the concern that exists among everyday internet users.

Public Knowledge is hosting World’s Fair Use Day at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on January 12th.

World’s Fair Use Day (WFUD) is a free, all-day celebration of the doctrine of fair use: the legal right that allows innovators and creators to make particular uses of copyrighted materials.

The event has a great line-up of artists, policymakers, and pundits including:

• Representative Mike Doyle (PA 14th)
• Dan Walsh of ‘Garfield minus Garfield’
• Marc Hosler of Negativland
• DJ Earworm
• Mike Masnick of Techdirt
• Brett Gaylor of ‘RIP: A Remix Manifesto’
• Nina Paley of ‘Sita Sings the Blues’
• Chris Burke, a machinima artist
• Eliza Kreisinger, a mash-up artist
• Jonathan McIntosh, a mash-up artist

If you can’t make it to the free event, it will be webcast; it looks great, so we encourage you to check it out!