This month marks the anniversary of a series of coordinated protests that led to the withdrawal of two proposed laws in the United States Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). Global advocacy across civil society groups and blackouts by thousands of the world’s most popular websites highlighted how the laws would negatively impact freedom of expression, online communities, and user innovation and creativity.
SOPA-PIPA showed the power of collective action, rooted in shared values, to shape the future of the internet. Join us on January 18th for a discussion of how public interest values have shaped the internet so far, how the internet has changed since the 2012 blackouts, and how the public interest community must ensure they continue building a better internet for everyone.
The panel will be moderated by Public Knowledge President and CEO Chris Lewis and will feature:
- Catherine Stihler, CEO of Creative Commons
- Spencer Overton,President, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
- April Glaser, Fellow of the Technology & Social Change Project
- Akriti Gaur, Resident Fellow, Yale Information Society Project