Thanks to your contributions, EFF's 15th Anniversary Blog-a-thon was a stunning success. We heard many tremendous stories about the fight for digital rights, with topics ranging from caller ID to the copyfight, CDA to DMCA, free speech in Singapore to blogging in Bulgaria. You can still find all the posts through Technorati and Pubsub.
No one loses in a blog-a-thon, but we had to choose three lucky bloggers to receive thank-you gifts, including our new EFF blogger t-shirt (available from EFF Shop) and pajamas (available by next week). Our independent panel of judges -- Susan Crawford, Mike Godwin, Xeni Jardin, JD Lasica, and Ernest Miller -- have sent in their picks, and we're happy to announce the winners:
Most Inspirational
IO Error, In Defense of Freedom: "As I said in an Independence Day posting a few weeks ago, the fight for liberty is not only conducted by the armed forces, it is conducted every day by ordinary citizens like you and me. We cannot protect freedom by curtailing it. Enemies of freedom, both foreign and domestic, threaten us every day, and we must be prepared to stand up to anyone who would take away the liberty which has made this country unique among nations."
Most Humorous
Memoirs of a Guardian Vampire, Fair use ... what use is it? (Harry Potter Woke Up Goth): "'Moribund is the core of my consciousness. Half-Heartedly I crawl through the strange forest until insecurities strip me of my fears. Suicide, Suicide, Suicide. Thou art my obsession.'
Thus were the thoughts that greeted Harry Potter as he woke that morning."
Best Overall
The ramblings of Laura Crossett, The Medium is Not the Message: "As I read news reports now, five years later, about bloggers getting in trouble for their writing, I'm reminded of that moment in the basement of Jessup and of the inability, or unwillingness, of the woman at the end of the hall to see electronic communication as equal to oral communication. The attempts to say that bloggers don't have the same rights as journalists stem, in part, from a belief that electronic print is not equal to hard copy print. "
Congrats to the winners and all participants. Thanks to our judges as well as Mary Hodder, Technorati, and Pubsub for their support. And to everyone: we hope you keep blogging the fight for digital rights and supporting EFF for many years to come.