Open Rights Group: Our first two years
Today I’m proud to be able to publish a review of the Open Rights Group’s first two years of activity, including our first year’s accounts. I hope that ORG supporters will enjoy reading how their contributions - financial, mental and physical - have collectively created an organisation that has had a demonstrable effect on UK digital rights issues. I also hope that ORG’s story so far will encourage more people to join the swelling ranks of ORG supporters.
As ORG chair Louise Ferguson writes in her foreword to the Review:
“ORG benefits from all manner of support from the many people involved in this grassroots organisation. From the individuals who support us financially or in kind, to the scores of people who keep our lively email list buzzing and those who generously volunteer their time and expertise, there are hundreds of people who contribute to ORG’s success. Our supporters and volunteers, who come from right across the political spectrum, drive our organisation, informing debates on a wide range of issues and providing amazing energy for projects and campaigns”
But today is not all about back-slapping. Now, more than ever, ORG needs your support. 2008 holds new challenges. Content industries, not satisfied with controlling your devices, are seeking to control your internet connection too. And next year will be a decisive one in the fight against the surveillance state, as political energy mounts around securing individual citizens’ rights to privacy. ORG needs to be there, speaking up for your digital rights.
So if you’re not yet supporting ORG, please start today.
If you’re not sure whether you are supporting ORG, please email me or Michael (becky AT; or michael AT openrightsgroup DOT org) and we’ll let you know. And if you are supporting ORG, please use today to spread the word about ORG to your friends and colleagues, and let them know why they should be too.
Finally, huge thanks to everyone who has made ORG’s first two years such a success - we’ve tried to namecheck as many of you as possible, but I’m sure we’ve left some people out. Here’s to building on our success, and to a bright future for our digital rights!
Update: The review is now available in html format.
November 19th, 2007 at 9:51 am
[...] Link [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 11:07 am
[...] good job too. As it’s 2007 report shows it has more than lived up to its promise and done some magnificent work for such a new and [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Without ORG’s support, UK Podcasters Association would not have achieved the significant position it now enjoys, and podcasters’ rights globally would be the poorer for it, I am in no doubt. Well done and thank you.
November 19th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
[...] Back in April 2006 when the UK Podcasters Association started, we were given advice and support by the Open Rights Group. [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
[...] It seems only yesterday that I sat with a group of starry-eyed activists and had the first board meeting of the nascent Open Rights Group. But I am reliably informed it was two whole years ago. In that time we’ve defied dead musicians, monitored elections and beaten up Auntie. Read all about it. [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
[...] Open Rights Group posted today its annual review, including its first full year’s accounts. (Like a number of [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
“But today is not all about back-slapping”. It sounds like it…..
November 19th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
[...] The Open Rights Group (ORG) has, today, published a report about their first two years of operation. [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
[...] old! The report of ORG’s first two years of activity is available from their site (click here). I’m proud to say that I’ve played a small part in helping out ORG over this time, [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
[...] ORG has published its first annual report (although I’ll leave you to make the joke about how ‘annual’ doesn’t [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
[...] Open Rights Group (UK’s equivalent of the Electronic Frontier Foundation) is two years old today. They fight for our digital civil rights (shoddy electronic voting schemes, software patents, all [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
[...] have released a report of what they have done so far and where all the money came from and [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
[...] Rights Group is two years old, and they’ve published a great report on their activities, which includes promoting and educating the public about CC licensing and researching free culture [...]
November 20th, 2007 at 1:00 am
[...] ORG published a review of activities since it ‘began’ in July 2005. Linked from the ORG site, and [here], it’s also covered by Danny O’Brien and Suw Charman on their blogs, and [...]
November 20th, 2007 at 1:31 am
[...] Open Rights Group is two years old today — already! And on the occasion, ORG is asking for your [...]
November 20th, 2007 at 10:18 am
[...] According to the said Geeklawyer, who is sometimes reliable… Jolly good job too. As it’s 2007 report shows it has more than lived up to its promise and done some magnificent work for such a new and [...]
November 20th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
[...] Open Rights Group have now been running for two years. Happy [...]
November 29th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
You are a source of inspiration. Please get in touch, we need to get the grassroots in Liverpool connected with your work. Happy to organise a Roundtable on Open Access and the Creative Industry.
December 2nd, 2007 at 11:07 pm
[...] Open Rights Group (ORG) is nominally two years old, and to mark the occasion, they have published a report (pdf) into their activities to date. Others [...]
July 21st, 2008 at 5:11 am
[...] Rights Group got its first public support from a thousand British Net pioneers. Flicking through their annual report today, it feels like they’ve been around for [...]
July 28th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
[...] We’ll keep a league table of supporters for the next few months and announce a winner on ORG Day (19 November) 2008. For more details, see the ORG-GRO page. Also, don’t forgot that [...]