I spent yesterday in Richmond (motto: “Armpit of Virginia”) at
the morning’s sessions for the COPA Commission.
The hearings are actually still going on today, for a total of a day and a half of
testimony and eight panels. Because I have to work,
I could only go for the first two panels, "Client Side Filtering Technologies"
and "Server Side Filtering Techonologies." It was weird, interesting, and fun.
I’m not sure that much was accomplished, though. It was really cool to see how many people
smiled in recognition at "Peacefire"
on my nametag. Bennett and Peacefire have worked for so long fighting against Internet
censorship, but it’s easy to think that you’re in your own little world, not making much
of an impression on your adversaries. So to see how many people were familiar with Peacefire
(and, creepily, me) was exciting. I guess this means that we’re getting somewhere!
If you want to read my full writeup, see it on
Slashdot.