25 Oct: Does anonymity need defending? Index magazine launch

03 Oct 16 | Events

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Autumn 2016 magazine cover

Autumn 2016 magazine cover

Join Index on Censorship to celebrate the launch of our latest magazine exploring anonymity through a range of in-depth features, interviews and illustrations from around the world. The special report looks at the pros and cons of masking identities from the perspective of a variety of players, from online trolls to intelligence agencies, whistleblowers, activists, artists, journalists, bloggers and fixers.

We’ll hear from writer, blogger and activist Cory Doctorow on the importance of defending anonymity and take an interactive phone-hacking journey into The Secret Life of Your Mobile Phone with tech journalist Geoff White. The launch will be held at the home of the suitably secretive VPN providers Hide My Ass!

There will be also complimentary drinks.

When: Tuesday 25 October 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Where: Hide My Ass!, AVG Technologies UK, 110 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6JS (map)
Tickets: This event is fully booked. 

Order your high-quality print copy of our anonymity special here, or take out a digital subscription from anywhere in the world via Exact Editions (just £18* for the year). Each magazine sale helps Index on Censorship fight for free expression worldwide.

*Will be charged at local exchange rate outside the UK.

Copies are also available at the BFI, the Serpentine Gallery, MagCulture, (London), News from Nowhere (Liverpool), Home (Manchester), Carlton Books (Glasgow) and on Amazon. Each magazine sale helps Index on Censorship continue its fight for free expression worldwide.

Read more about this issue of the magazine here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”1″ element_width=”12″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1478627753205-821a5180-df34-10″ taxonomies=”7112, 662″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Cory Doctorow on copyright

24 Nov 11 | Uncategorized

Science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger Cory Doctorow spoke at the New America Foundation on Tuesday about his thoughts on productivity, creativity and parenting in the 21st century.  The meeting framed copyright policy against broader concerns about its impact on civil liberties and human rights.

Doctorow touched on freedom of expression, and the pitfalls of upholding copyright and intellectual property laws while respecting citizens’ rights. He pointed out that “information doesn’t want to be free, people do”.

There is an inherent tension between upholding copyright law and resisting the need to implement censorship and surveillance mechanisms. Doctorow highlighted the fact that it is hard to restrict “general purpose” technologies, giving the whimsical example of trying to create a car wheel that could be used for all outings, except to escape from bank robberies. When addressing multi-use technologies, policies meant to prevent copyright infringement can be blunt tools of enforcement.

“We don’t know how to create a policy that allows for expeditious take down from YouTube of copyrighted material that doesn’t fight people in the Middle East who are participating in the Arab Spring who want to upload their videos in an expeditious way without having it taken down by false flag operations, for example.”

Recently the effect of copyright laws on free expression has been heavily debated in the US during discussions regarding the Stop Online Piracy Act. Doctorow said:

“One of my great frustrations in fights about things like SOPA…are all the people who should be on the other side of the SOPA in fighting the bill, but instead join with the forces endorsing it like the FLCIO. I have a friend who says ‘Just because you’re on their side doesn’t mean they are on your side.”

Rachel Greenspan is Index on Censorship’s US editor