Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son, presumptive heir James Murdoch, are answering questions before a parliamentary committee right now. You can watch it live at the BBC's website. The most interesting moments so far have been Murdoch Senior's grilling by Tom Watson; among other things, Murdoch claims to be completely ignorant of operations at the News of the World, including legal settlements, the alleged misconduct of executives there, and even the name of a chief reporter there who was convicted of blackmail.
This is your last chance to buy tickets for the first-ever ORGCon in London tomorrow: it's a day-long meeting on the digital rights situation in the UK and what we can all do to improve it. As Britain moves to censor more of the net than ever, to disconnect families on the self-regulated say-so of the entertainment industry, and to spy on more and more of our net-traffic, there has never been a more important time to get involved with digital rights in the UK. — Read the rest
The first-ever ORGCon, a one-day conference on digital rights in the UK, is coming up on July 24 in London. Over 300 people have signed up to attend, and there are only a few spaces left. If you're planning on going, you'd best book now! — Read the rest
James Boyle, Cory Doctorow and Tom Watson are heading up the first ever conference dedicated to digital rights in the UK, to be held July 24 in London. Top of the agenda at ORGCon is tackling the Digital Economy Act and the new Government.
Copyfighting UK MP Tom Watson (who voted against his party whip on the loathsome Digital Economy Act) is styling in this STEP OUTSIDE ANALOGUE BOY tee made for him by @jkerrstevens. WANT.
Tom Watson — the principled and technologically savvy UK Labour MP who led the fight against the Digital Economy Bill — has begun to campaign for re-election, starting with a draft set of "digital pledges" outlining his beliefs on what a responsible parliamentarian should promise as regards the internet:
In the wake of last week's introduction of a LibDem pro-web-censorship amendment to the Digital Economy Bill in the House of Lords, Open Rights Group executive director Jim Killock has a call to action for supporters of all the UK's political parties to join ORG and its nonpartisan effort to promote liberty and openness in the digital realm. — Read the rest
Progressive UK Labour MP Tom Watson (with whom I serve on the Open Rights Group advisory council) is putting on a panel on how government can support and nurture the video-games industry, calling games "the world's fastest-growing and most lucrative entertainment medium." — Read the rest
Hurrah! The OpenTech conference is returning to London! I wish I was in town for it, but I'm going to be overseas. Co-organizer Sam Smith sez,
At the last OpenTech in 2005, the Open Rights Group was started. For 2008, the conference includes a State of the Nation from ORG and NO2ID, describing where we've come from, and a look forward to where we're going.
