This workshop aims at citizens who are ready to get their freedoms back… before they are taken away. In an era where sharing information as never been easier or cheaper, the lack of a good copyright law limits severely our freedom of expression (including access to information), inhibits new forms of creation and can restrict online education.

Because of the powerful forces that shaped copyright in International treaties, nowadays copyright underpins almost everything people do online in terms of access to information, knowledge, entertainment, etc. As a result of this extensive interpretation of copyright and how it has evolved, many users do not see the connection between what they do online and the copyright law. While copyright has become an overarching monster, online freedoms and possibilities for innovation have been infringed in the EU.

We want to present a practical model of limitations as a start to the workshop - what the internet will be like if user rights are undermined. Then we to engage participants into modeling the internet of the future they want: from the point of creation, information available, sharing, learning, assisting everyday life, etc. Every group will engage in the defense of their favorite “online freedom”. Learning from participants’ ideas and combining them with our experience on copyfights in the EU, our target will be to propose solutions for the current copyright reform in the EU (and elsewhere) that could assist the positive future of internet to come true.

We will encourage participants to engage in the copyfight for a more open internet, including convincing the European Parliament to reassure citizens’ freedoms via specific methods (online campaigning, contacting MEPs, joining national groups or transnational networks...)