What:
PSU Professor Bart Massey and the Computer Science Department are bringing open source advocate and science fiction writer Cory Doctorow to campus for a lecture dedicated to the topic, "What's the Point of Copyright?” Doctorow will answer questions of copyright— does it exist to promote creativity or to protect the current crop of creators; how can one tell if a copyright system is working; when the barriers to entry for creative industries go away, what should copyright do to adapt; and if universities are in the copyright business or the education business.


When:
Thursday, November 16, 2006, 5 – 6 p.m.


Where:
Smith Memorial Student Union, Vanport Room 338, 1825 S.W. Broadway.


Cost:
Admission is free and open to the public.

Contact:
For more information and to RSVP, please e-mail cs-event@cs.pdx.edu or call 503-725-2416.

Background:
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction novelist, blogger and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular Web log Boing Boing (boingboing.net), and a contributor to Wired, Popular Science, Make, the New York Times, and many other newspapers, magazines and Web sites. He was formerly director of European Affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org), a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards and treaties. Presently, he serves as the Fulbright chair at the Annenberg Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. His novels are published by Tor Books and simultaneously released on the Internet under Creative Commons licenses that encourage their re-use and sharing, a move that increases his sales by enlisting his readers to help promote his work. He co-founded the open source peer-to-peer software company OpenCola, sold to OpenText, Inc. in 2003.

Cory Doctorow will also be the Guest of Honor at OryCon28 being held in Portland, OR on November 17-19, 2006.  For more information on OryCon 28, visit http://www.orycon.org/orycon28/.