September Newsletter: Standing up for the Open Internet at the FCC!

New Media Rights

We want to thank all of our supporters who made our #Oneof1000 celebration a success this summer.  It was nice to celebrate all we’ve accomplished as a community in person and online, and we hope to enjoy your company for some delicious tacos again soon!

Despite taking a moment to celebrate with clients and supporters like the San Diego based nonprofit Green Neuroscience Lab (pictured above left with their newest scientist!), our team has been standing up for the Open Internet at the FCC; writing to the President about the importance of copyright reform and an Open Internet to 21st Century innovation; appearing on This Week in Law; releasing new educational guides (here, here, and here); delivering educational workshops, and answering your legal questions.  Here’s are the highlights of what we’ve been up to!
 
Standing up for net neutrality and protecting the Open Internet
To protect the Open Internet, it will take both activism and sound legal arguments. New Media Rights has been actively involved in the fight for Net Neutrality at the FCC. There we’ve been making the kind of detailed legal arguments needed to explain the importance to independent creators, tech startups, and consumers of protecting the Open Internet by reclassifying internet access under title II. In our latest reply comment in the FCC's Open Internet proceeding we focused on a series of claims by broadband providers that are simply not supported in the record, and amount to a dangerous “take our word for it" approach. As with our initial comments, our goal was to ensure meaningful, defensible protections for the Open Internet under Title II of the Communications Act. You can check out our full comments here. For a lighter take on why the broadband providers “take our word for it" approach” is especially dangerous you can also check out our initial blog post here.

New Guides
We’re proud to announce three new legal guides. Special thanks to our amazing legal interns, who help us create these. Thanks also go out to all of you; our guides are inspired by the legal questions you ask us, so we couldn’t produce these guides without you!
  • Our new guide to 3D Printing and the Law is a guide for makers to explain some of the basic legal issues surrounding 3D printing. The guide answers key legal questions like, does the creator of a 3D-printiable file always own the file? Special thanks to former NMR Intern Christine Brekke for her work on this guide!
  • Our new guide, Disastrous Disclaimers in the Digital Era,  is a guide for blogers, vlogers and online journalists on how to use disclaimers when writing about products or services they may have received for free. Special thanks to former NMR Intern Amy Vaughan for her work on this guide.
  • Our final new guide,  Intellectual Property & Fiscal Sponsorship Agreements for Scientific, Research, and Archival Projects, is designed to help smaller projects understand intellectual property and other important considerations when entering a fiscal sponsorship relationship with a larger nonprofit. Special thanks to NMR Intern Marko Radisavljevic for his work on this guide.
Spring Internet and Media Law Clinic
Are you a student at California Western School of Law passionate about helping artists, entrepreneurs and internet users with legal issues brought about by the digital age? This spring we will once again be offering an opportunity to be a part of our clinic class, check out our intern page for more details on how to apply. Applications open October 1st and close October 31st.

Upcoming Events

It’s  Gonna Blow Premier
Thursday October 9th from 7pm-10pm
Our client, San Diego based filmmaker Bill Perrine, is screening his new film, It's Gonna Blow: San Diego's Music Underground 1986-1996 here in San Diego! New Media Rights actualy provided legal services for the film so we’re especially excited about the premier. We'll be at the screening and we hope to see you there! You can buy your tickets here.

San Diego Small Business Advisory Board Annual Community Outreach Meeting
Friday, October 17, 2014.
Come visit New Media Rights and other organizations that assist small businesses at the SBAB Annual Community Outreach Meeting! Please RSVP to Small Business Ambassador Lisa Gordon Hosch at lgordon@sandiego.gov.
 
How can you support independent creators and artists?

Please remember New Media Rights is an independently funded nonprofit program.  The reason a real attorney is able to review and respond to your request for legal services, is because of the support of individuals like you.  Become an NMR Supporter and ensure this service exists for years to come!  In addition, if you know any organizational or foundational

We accomplish a great deal on a modest budget, so any donation makes a huge impact for us. You can make a donation to support legal services and advocacy for internet users and creators by clicking here.  

Please also make sure to connect with New Media Rights on
 Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
 
Thanks again for being part of the New Media Rights community. Keep an eye out as our future battles and work on behalf of internet users and independent creators continues.

All the best,

Art Neill, Teri Karobonik, and the New Media Rights team

 

Value legal services for internet users and creators?  Support them.

Find additional articles by