Public Knowledge Recognizes Individuals for Their Dedication to Internet Advancement

WASHINGTON, August 4, 2010 — Public Knowledge has chosen the recipients for the advocacy group’s 2010 IP3 awards, to be presented Oct. 13 in Washington.

The winners have, according to the press release, “advanced the public interest in one of the three areas of ‘IP’ – Intellectual Property, Information Policy and Internet Protocol.”

In addition to the IP3 awards, a special President’s Award will be presented. While the name of that recipient has not been disclosed, the winners of IP3 have been.

Pamela Samuelson holds a joint appointment with the Berkeley Law School and the School of Information, as well as being the director for the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.  According to her faculty profile at Berkeley Law School, she “is recognized as a pioneer in digital copyright law, intellectual property, cyberlaw and information policy.” She is being recognized for her work in information policy. She is on the advisory board of Public Knowledge.

Serving as the Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy, Susan Crawford advocates internet-friendly policies, according to Public Knowledge. She will be awarded for her work in internet protocol. She was also a member of the Obama transition team evaluating the FCC, and has recently rejoined the faculty of Cardozo Law School.

Michael Geist will be recognized for his work in intellectual property. His coverage of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is one of his claims to fame, but Public Knowledge says his blog is a “must-read for anyone in the field. … Geist has even been responsible for drafts of the treaty being made public, even as governments around the world wanted the texts kept secret.”

Finally, Nina Paley will be recognized for her work in intellectual property. A New York filmmaker, she gained experience during a three-year legal battle resulting from the use of songs in one of her films, songs that she argued were in the public domain.

The judges of the contest were: Shawn Chang, majority counsel on Communications and Technology Policy for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; Amalia Deloney, grassroots policy director for the Center for Media Justice; Barbara van Schewick, assistant professor of Law at Stanford Law School; Siva Vaidhyanathan, associate professor of media studies at the University of Virginia Law School; and Gwen Hinze, international director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.