"Any time someone puts a lock on something that belongs to you, against your wishes, and won't give you the key, they don't have your best interests at heart," warns Cory Doctorow, technology activist, journalist and best-selling science fiction author who will give the opening keynote at this year’s Internet Librarian International ( 15 & 16 October, London).

Doctorow, who is co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing and a contributor to The Guardian, Wired, and the New York Times, is active in legislative issues related to copyright, internet neutrality, and censorship. He calls for librarians to lend their support to the fight against current copyright and privacy controls:

“This includes all the companies that have mandatory DRM that prohibits copyright holders from authorising moving media from one device to another: the Apple Store, the Kindle Store, iTunes, etc.

“The ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom and IFLA have been kicking ass and taking names for years now, especially at the World Intellectual Property Organization; they need active support from librarians. For library patrons, the top issues are net-nannies that spy on their clickstreams and DRM that spy on their reading.”

Doctorow will air his sometimes controversial views in his opening keynote Copyright, Copyleft, Privacy, Librarians and Freedom at Internet Librarian International on Thursday 15 October.

The Internet Librarian International conference programme is published today. This year’s conference provides comprehensive coverage of the tools libraries must embrace in order to thrive and compete in the current climate, including ebooks; Google book search; mobile devices; computer gaming; blogs, microblogs and social networks; and social search.

In the event’s second keynote on Friday 16 October, Cambridge University’s Peter Murray-Rust shares his predictions for the future of libraries in a world where people increasingly bypass library collections and librarians in favour of the internet.

Show producers, Information Today, have held 2008 prices and are offering 40% discounts for colleagues and group attendance. The full programme is available at: www.internet-librarian.com