How Cory Doctorow saved the internet with SubEthaEdit

Posted by map Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:39:00 GMT

Some of you might remember the so-called "Broadcast Treaty" that the World Intellectual Property Organization discussed in 2007. To break it down to simple words, afaiu there where plans that the act of broadcasting something would give copy rights to the works used in this context to the broadcaster and therefore make things even more complicated and restrictive for internet users and creators.

Today, twitter user @eulenherr sent us a link to a talk featuring Cory Doctorow telling the story of how the treaty fell trough thanks to how the argument was framed by him, the EFF and other NGOs with near-realtime notes and blog posts. It fills us with joy to hear that he and his colleagues used SubEthaEdit to collaborate on the texts that averted change for the worse. We are proud to have played a (albeit tiny) part in this.

But enough from us. Here's Cory, descended from his hot air balloon and without cape and goggles, telling the story:

PS: Please excuse the boulevard-esque blog post title. ;)