The EFF Guide to San Diego Comic-Con 2014

More than 100,000 people will descend on San Diego Comic-Con this week, including yours truly representing the Electronic Frontier Foundation. If you’re one of the the lucky badge-holders with an interest in protecting Internet freedom, I’d love to chat with you and give you a sticker (while supplies last, obviously). Our friends at Alaska Robotics and musician Marian Call have generously offered us a spot at their table. You can find me there (#1134 in the main exhibition hall) from 2 - 3 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

But EFF isn’t the only opportunity at SDCC to ponder issues of surveillance, tech policy, free speech, and intellectual property. We’ve compiled this schedule of panels worth checking out this check out this year.

Are you a creator with a project, panel, or table at SDCC that ties into issues EFF covers? Send details to fandom@eff.org and we’ll add them in our next update.

Scorpion: World Premiere Screening and Panel

When the trailer for a new TV show starts off with a 12-year-old being arrested for hacking NASA, you know EFF is interested in hearing more. CBS’s new series, Scorpion, is loosely based on hacker Walter O’Brien, and follows his team of technologists as they seek to counteract global crises. Thursday, July 24, 2014 12:05 pm - 1:10 pm  - Ballroom 20

Digging E.T.: Behind the Scenes of the Xbox Originals Documentary, Atari: Game Over

This new documentary tracks the demise of the Atari Corporation, including an investigation into the hundreds of thousands of copies of the E.T. video game buried in the New Mexico desert. Admittedly, there’s no real connection to EFF’s core issues here, except in the sense that a lot of us grew up on the Atari and miss it badly. Friday, July 25, 2014 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm - Room 5AB

Creativity Is Magic: Fandom, Transmedia, and Transformative Works

This panel examines how media technology has exploded over the last 18 months, from apps to social media, and how this has elevated fan fiction, “gift culture,” and transformative works. The discussion is moderated by Heidi Tandy of FYeahCopyright.com, which is described as “the Snopes of copyright & trademark law (for fangirls, fanboys, creators & hipsters).” Friday, July 25, 2014 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Room 26AB

Comic Book Law School 303: Muy Caliente! Hot Topics 2014

Lawyers attending Comic-Con can pick up continuing legal education credits by attending the panels in the Comic Book Law School series, which are led by Michael Lovitz, author of The Trademark and Copyright Book comic book. In this panel, a group of attorneys will discuss the impact of several cases that EFF has been tracking closely, including Tarantino v Gawker, the battle over whether Sherlock Holmes is in the public domain, and an appellate court’s decision to force YouTube to remove “The Innocence of Muslims.” Saturday, July 26, 2014 10:30 am - 12 pm - Room 30CDE

Pop Culture and Robot Reality

NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Director Jason Crusan, Intel Resident Futurist Brian David Johnson, and Rethink Robotics Senior Engineer Jennifer Barry will share their visions of the near-future of robotics and how that compares to the alternately loyal and menacing depictions of robots in pop culture. Saturday, July 26, 2014 11 am - 12 pm - Room 7AB

Comic-Con How-To: Fans, Love, and the Law with DeviantArt and Organization for Transformative Works

EFF are big fans of the Organization for Transformative Works, who we’ve partnered with on amicus briefs and submitting requests to the Library of Congress. The group, which champions the rights of fan creators and protects them from wrongheaded intellectual-property attacks, is partnering up with DeviantArt for this panel, in which they promise to “bring out their lawyers to explain how you can go to sleep at night, dream the dream of fans, and never have to hide under the bed.” Saturday, July 26, 2014 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm - Room 2

Person of Interest Special Video Presentation and Q&A

At last year’s Comic-Con, the creators of the CBS show rolled out an extended preview of the series that relied heavily on the fallout from the Snowden files. This time around, Executive Producer Greg Plageman and cast members will take questions on the fourth seaso