Thanks to this post on The Trichordist blog, I was alerted to this event. At 2 p.m. (PST) today, at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a panel discussion, “Beyond SOPA: Creating a Pro-Innovation, Pro-Artist Copyright Policy,” is scheduled as part of their “Innovation Policy Summit.” Here’s how the event is described on the CES website:
In 2012, millions of Americans contacted their members of Congress to protest restrictive copyright proposals, and intellectual property issues took center stage in Washington and at the presidential debates. Entrepreneurs and policymakers discuss how to protect IP while maintaining a vibrant Internet and creating new opportunities for content creators.
Ok, that’s all good and well, a worthy topic of discussion right? What’s not particularly good is the makeup of the panel:
- John Perry Barlow – Co-Founder , Electronic Frontier Foundation, EFF
- Wilson Holmes – Co-Director , Fight for the Future
- Mike Masnick – CEO and Founder , TechDirt
- Hank Shocklee – Founder and CEO, Shocklee Entertainment
- Gigi Sohn – Co-Founder and President, Public Knowledge
The list of participants includes a veritable “Who’s Who” of the anti-copyright crowd. Why not include a filmmaker or musician? Hank Shocklee, from Shocklee Entertainment, is a musical artist, but he’s known for work often derived from sampling the work of others. Clearly his is a perspective worthy of discussion, but there are other voices, with differing views, that should have been included too. Are conference organizers afraid of sponsoring an actual dialogue on a worthy, but complicated topic? FYI you can watch a live-stream of what is likely to be a very one-sided discussion here: http://declareinnovation.com/videos
If the folks at CES really wanted to be “innovative” why not actually include the voices of some content creators (true innovators who value their copyrights) rather than limiting it to a panel mostly comprised of representatives from a tech subsidized echo-chamber, paid to promote the party-line? So much for progress…