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Home / About / Press / FREE BITFLOWS: Commu ...
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FREE BITFLOWS: Communication must be free!
Conference discussed opportunities and risks of the new network society
"Communication must be free - as soon as you move away from that idea,
you are creating the basis for censorship."
This message of warning was voiced by Ian Clark, an Irish researcher and
the founder of Freenet, at the beginning of the Free Bitflows
conference. The two-day conference, organized by the Vienna based Net
culture group Public Netbase, conlcuded Friday evening at the Semper
Depot building.
The event attracted a large number of international visitors who
discussed the opportunities and risks encountered by collaborative
practices of new cultural and social networks together with a prominent
group of experts, researchers, and media activists.
"The legitimate use of anonymity is under serious threat by the
copyright industry", said Sjoera Nas (NL), representing the digital
civil rights group "Bits of Freedom". Defending fundamental rights is a
key motive behind the establishment of networks and their particular
modes of operation. Janko Roettgers (GE) and Reni Hofmüller (AT)
presented real life examples and models of networking independent
content production and distribution for the benefit of all. "Content
behaves like water", said Pit Schultz from reboot.fm, "its quality is
socially defined."
"Archives should be seen as the fuel of knowledge society!" In her talk,
Paula Le Dieu (UK), from the BBC's new media department, focussed on the
accessibility of archived materials - as did Brewster Kahle (US), founder of the Internet Archive, who stressed that "universal access to all human knowledge is within our grasp".
The audience's active involvement contributed much to a lively exchange
of know-how and insights, offering some encouraging and optimistic
perspectives. "The experience of Telestreet shows that there is a way of
leaving the alternative media ghetto behind", declared the Italian media
activist Marco Deseriis.
"Free Bitflows is meant to remind us that 'semiotic democracy' is at
risk", said the conference hosts Felix Stalder and Konrad Becker at the
end of the conference. "After the past two days we have to conclude that
the free flow of information has a crucial political dimension. Only if
all people are in a position to freely create and share culture can new
and independent content establish itself against the engines of the
mainstream media and the entertainment industry."
 FREE BITFLOWS Press Information
FREE BITFLOWS Exhibition
FREE BITFLOWS Conference
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