Software Freedom Law Center @sflc@mastodon.social

"According to the Software Freedom and Law Centre, a New Delhi–based digital advocacy organization, this was the 55th internet shutdown in Kashmir in 2019 alone. But Kashmiris [said] that the scale of this particular blackout was unprecedented"

Read more:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/kashmir-communications-blackout

What is it like living through the #NetShutdown in Kashmir?

"I think one of the worst parts of living through this blackout has been the way nationalist news channels in India have covered the situation in Kashmir by trying to portray it as normal. It's propaganda."

Read more stories here:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/kashmir-communications-blackout

SAVE THE DATE: Our annual fall conference is around the corner!

SFLC's 15th Anniversary Fall Conference will take place on Friday, November 1st, 2019 at Columbia Law School.

Our program will be published soon!

Details here: http://softwarefreedom.org/news/2019/sep/06/conference-invite/

SAVE THE DATE: Our annual fall conference is around the corner!

SFLC's 15th Anniversary Fall Conference will take place on Friday, November 1st, 2019 at Columbia Law School.

The conference will run from 9:00am to 5:00pm and will be invitation only. Stay tuned for more details!

“Shutting down the internet has become the first go-to the moment the police think there will be any kind of disturbance,” says our Legal Director Mishi Choudhary
about the #NetShutdowns in Jammu and Kashmir.

Read more about #NetShutdowns:
https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2019/8/26/20833506/internet-access-human-right-shut-down-kashmir-india

In #Kashmir, the government has shut down the net in order to stop the flow of information among Kashmiris.

Our sister organization, SFLCin, tracks #NetShutdowns throughout India. In Kashmir in 2019, there have already been 54 #NetShutdowns.

Read more: https://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-tensions-continue-high-over-kashmir-with-500-arrests-and-a-communications-blackout/

This clip was cut from a panel discussion about David Kaye's new book, "Speech Police: The Global Struggle to Govern the Internet," with Mishi Choudhary, Lynn Oberlander, and Sandy Coliver at an event hosted by Open Society Foundations.

Watch the full discussion here:
https://youtu.be/NcPRPxu8K4I

🚨 NEWSFLASH: #WhatsApp is used by political parties in India and throughout the Global South to spread propaganda.

Our Legal Director Mishi Choudhary explains:

Read the full transcript of this speech:
http://softwarefreedom.org/news/2019/jun/17/transcript-for-republica19/

Eben Moglen argues the climate crisis is analogous to the privacy crisis:

"Two great environmental disasters: each requiring our fullest concentration and our broadest social mobilizations."

Watch: "Eben Moglen: Why Freedom of Thought Requires Attention"
https://peertube.mastodon.host/videos/watch/a382163c-6e93-4626-a8dd-b5010502c870

For German speakers, here is the article in its original German:

Indien ist offline: Nirgendwo sperren die Behörden den Internetzugang häufiger als in der grössten Demokratie der Welt https://www.nzz.ch/international/behoerden-in-indien-fuehrer-der-internet-sperrungen-ld.1494246

On #NetShutdowns in India, our Legal Director Mishi Choudhary says:

"The more digital we become, the easier it will be for the government to bring people's lives to a standstill at the touch of a button."

Full article (translated from German to English):
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nzz.ch%2Finternational%2Fbehoerden-in-indien-fuehrer-der-internet-sperrungen-ld.1494246

On July 18, our Legal Director Mishi Choudhary will be in San Francisco for a panel discussion hosted by Wikimedia. The panel will discuss the EU copyright directive and its practical effects!

Come to the event if you're in town!

"EU Copyright & You: A Multi-Stakeholder Discussion"
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eu-copyright-you-a-multi-stakeholder-discussion-tickets-64446083972?ref=eios

Read @glynmoody's view on the EU Copyright Directive:

"A powerful way to fight upload filters and their threat to freedom of speech is to create internet services that are outside this framework...[Eben Moglen] understood this ten years ago."

Full story: https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/online-censorship-coming-heres-how-stop-it

The Open Invention Network has reached a milestone of over 3,000 members.

Eben Moglen on this news:
"At this 3,000-licensee milestone, OIN represents one of the most important institutional achievements in the digital economy..."

Read the full story to learn why this is important:
https://zd.net/2WVzUoj

Cory Doctorow was interviewed in the CoRecursive podcast. He argues that we should advocate for better technology using code, law, norms, and markets.

Cory gives us a shout-out at 54:52!

"Rethinking Technological Positivism with Cory Doctorow"
https://corecursive.com/33-cory-doctorow-digital-rights/

If you want to watch the video of Professor Moglen's keynote address re:publica, check it out here:

"Eben Moglen: Why Freedom of Thought Requires Attention"
https://peertube.mastodon.host/videos/watch/a382163c-6e93-4626-a8dd-b5010502c870

NEWS: Transcript for Eben Moglen’s Keynote at re:publica 2019

SFLC President and Columbia Law Professor Eben Moglen delivered a keynote at #rp19 titled "Why Freedom of Thought Requires Attention." The full transcript is now available.

Read it here: http://softwarefreedom.org/news/2019/jun/17/transcript-for-republica19/