Activists, artists review state of digital rights

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On Saturday, ZDNet UK attended the first ORGCon, a conference of the Open Rights Group that is expected to become an annual event.

About 450 people attended the event, which took place on the campus of City University in London. Panelists at the event discussed topics ranging from copyright to content distribution models and online rights activism.

This gallery contains some of the quotes of the day from activists, artists and politicians.

From left to right:

Cory Doctorow (author, blogger and digital activist), on some ISPs' desire to avoid having to police their networks but also avoid net neutrality:
"If you want to be treated as someone who's hands-off their traffic, then you'd better keep your hands off your traffic."

Dave Rowntree (Blur drummer and politician), defending British Music Rights chief and ex-Undertone Feargal Sharkey:
"He's a lot more moderate than some of the hotheads in the BPI are."

Jeff Lynn (chairman of the Coalition for a Digital Economy [Coadec]), on the Digital Economy Act's protection of the music industry against unlawful file-sharing:
"That model of distribution has been disrupted — it's going to fade. We need to encourage innovation rather than trying to protect dying models."

Obhi Chatterjee (filmmaker), on his dance musical Shyama:
"It was only made because the line of distribution could be bypassed. Allowing people to make copies is part of the business model for the film. A free version of the film is available on the website of the production company, so people can get an idea of what it is before they take the option of a paid version of the film."

John Buckman (founder of the Magnatune record label and Electronic Freedom Foundation director), on US resistance to new music distribution models:
"Spotify cannot go to America — it's simply being blocked by the rights societies and labels."