Public Knowledge
Encyclopedia
Public Knowledge is a non-profit
Washington, D.C.
-based public interest group
that is involved in intellectual property law, competition, and choice in the digital marketplace, and an open standard
s/end-to-end
internet
.
Its co-founders are David Bollier
and Gigi Sohn
(current president), while Peter Suber
is director of its open access project, and its directors include MIT
professor Hal Abelson
, Stanford
Law
professor Lawrence Lessig
, and former FCC
chairman Reed Hundt
.
Public Knowledge's work focuses on the three 'IP's of communications and copyright policy: information
policy
, intellectual property
, and Internet Protocol
.
While Public Knowledge has taken part in many information policy debates, the group is particularly well-known for its steady advocacy against the expansion of copyright and for the importance of copyright defenses and exemptions such as fair use
. For instance, in response to the FCC
's attempt to mandate a broadcast flag
for all digital TV tuners, Public Knowledge led the successful legal campaign to have the rule overturned. One study of the politics of digital rights management
policy concluded, "Since its 2001 founding, Public Knowledge has risen to prominence as the pre-eminent DC-based policy advocacy organization within the strong fair use coalition."
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
-based public interest group
Advocacy
Advocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...
that is involved in intellectual property law, competition, and choice in the digital marketplace, and an open standard
Open standard
An open standard is a standard that is publicly available and has various rights to use associated with it, and may also have various properties of how it was designed . There is no single definition and interpretations vary with usage....
s/end-to-end
End-to-end
End-to-end or End to End may refer to:*Land's End to John o'Groats, the journey from "End to End" across Great Britain*End-to-end auditable voting systems, a voting system*End-to-end principle, a principal design element of the Internet...
internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Its co-founders are David Bollier
David Bollier
David Bollier is an American activist, writer, and policy strategist. He is co-founder of the , Senior Fellow at the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, and writes technology-related reports for the Aspen Institute...
and Gigi Sohn
Gigi Sohn
Gigi Sohn is president and co-founder of Public Knowledge. She was formerly with the Ford Foundation. She graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in Broadcasting and Film and earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School...
(current president), while Peter Suber
Peter Suber
Peter Suber is the creator of the game Nomic and a leading voice in the open access movement. He is a senior research professor of philosophy at Earlham College, the open access project director at Public Knowledge, a senior researcher at SPARC , and a Fellow at Harvard's and...
is director of its open access project, and its directors include MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
professor Hal Abelson
Hal Abelson
Harold Abelson is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, a fellow of the IEEE, and is a founding director of both Creative Commons and the Free Software Foundation....
, Stanford
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
Law
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
professor Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence "Larry" Lessig is an American academic and political activist. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications, and he has called for state-based activism to promote substantive...
, and former FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
chairman Reed Hundt
Reed Hundt
Reed E. Hundt was chairman of the United States Federal Communications Commission from 1993 to 1997. Appointed by President Bill Clinton, he served for most of Clinton's first term. He was succeeded by William Kennard.- Biography :Hundt attended high school in Washington D.C at the prestigious St....
.
Public Knowledge's work focuses on the three 'IP's of communications and copyright policy: information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
policy
Policy
A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...
, intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
, and Internet Protocol
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
.
While Public Knowledge has taken part in many information policy debates, the group is particularly well-known for its steady advocacy against the expansion of copyright and for the importance of copyright defenses and exemptions such as fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
. For instance, in response to the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
's attempt to mandate a broadcast flag
Broadcast flag
A broadcast flag is a set of status bits sent in the data stream of a digital television program that indicates whether or not the data stream can be recorded, or if there are any restrictions on recorded content...
for all digital TV tuners, Public Knowledge led the successful legal campaign to have the rule overturned. One study of the politics of digital rights management
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
policy concluded, "Since its 2001 founding, Public Knowledge has risen to prominence as the pre-eminent DC-based policy advocacy organization within the strong fair use coalition."
See also
- CopyleftCopyleftCopyleft is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work...
- Creative CommonsCreative CommonsCreative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
- Copyright Alliance
- Digital Freedom campaignDigital Freedom campaignThe Digital Freedom campaign is a lobbying advocacy campaign formed on October 25, 2006.-Partners:*Consumer Electronics Association*Be The Media*Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility*Public Knowledge*New America Foundation*Ethos Group...
- Digital rightsDigital rightsThe term digital rights describes the permissions of individuals legitimately to perform actions involving the use of a computer, any electronic device, or a communications network...
- Fair useFair useFair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
- Free Culture movementFree Culture movementThe free culture movement is a social movement that promotes the freedom to distribute and modify creative works in the form of free content by using the Internet and other forms of media....