EFF, Little Brother and the Emperor Norton Award

Last Sunday, my young adult novel Little Brother won the Emperor Norton Award (for "extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the constraints of paltry reason" in San Francisco), presented at the 13th birthday party for Tachyon Books, at Borderlands Bookstore in San Francisco. I wasn't able to accept the award (I'm in India, researching my next novel), so I asked Cindy Cohn, EFF's legal director, to accept on my behalf and say a few words about EFF's new lawsuit over NSA wiretapping, in which AG Alberto Gonzales, GW Bush, and Dick Cheney are all named as defendants. Tachyon's put the text of the speech online -- as ever, Cindy gave a hum-dinger:

And here’s where EFF comes in. Cory’s work and EFF’s mission have long been intertwined, not just because he was with us for so long and drank so much of our Kool-Aid, but even before that. And the same is true for Little Brother. While we thankfully haven’t yet had the next terrorist attack, the use of digital technology against ordinary people by an overreaching government is well underway. This week at EFF we filed a new lawsuit, called Jewel v. NSA, aimed at stopping one such invasion of our privacy, the NSA’s dragnet surveillance of all of us, especially those of us in San Francisco.

That’s because the strongest evidence in the case is about San Francisco, specifically the installation of a fiberoptic splitter in an AT&T facility on Folsom Street that is making copies of all of the internet traffic that goes through that facility and giving it to the NSA. Those of you who watch EFF know that we filed suit against AT&T with this same evidence in 2006, but in the last year AT&T and the Administration bullied Congress into passing something called “retroactive immunity” for the telecommunications companies, trying to let them off the hook. We’re fighting that immunity in court, but this week we opened a second front, suing the government and government officials directly. This includes Bush, Cheney, and the other architects of this dragnet surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans, you, me and Marcus Yallow alike.

Tachyon's 13th Anniversary party wrap-up

[#1 posted by Peter , September 24, 2008 6:17 AM]

Congratulations. Although the description of the award makes it sound like its for books that are "completely scientifically impossible, but fun anyway." ;)

[#2 posted by bill1410 , September 24, 2008 6:27 AM]

Congrats. I loved Little Brother and I'm happy that it's winning awards. Keep up the good work.

My review of the novel is here if anyone is interested:
http://www.vaguespace.net/blog/2008/08/little-brother.html

[#3 posted by Jeff , September 24, 2008 7:06 AM]

Cory Doctorow, Great Job! You earned it. And as Bill 1410 said, please keep up the good work. You really are an inspiration.

[#4 posted by mgfarrelly , September 24, 2008 7:10 AM]

Congratulations!

"extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the constraints of paltry reason"

Wow. That's an award I would be simply staggered to win. Forget Oscars and Emmys, you defy reason!

[#5 posted by mdh , September 24, 2008 1:28 PM]

gratz!

[#6 posted by Sutra , September 24, 2008 7:00 PM]

High5, sir. I love Little Brother and I love shoving it in my friend's faces and demanding they read it more.

Oh yeah, I'm loving Over Clocked right now too.

I don't think I see failure in your future, Cory Doctorow.

[#7 posted by Nawel , September 24, 2008 8:53 PM]

Well, congratulations. I guess I'll have to read the book sooner or later... to many good words about it!

[#8 posted by Alpinwolf , September 25, 2008 10:29 PM]

"... my young adult novel Little Brother won the Emperor Norton Award ... in San Francisco. I wasn't able to accept the award (I'm in India, researching my next novel)...."

Not that many people can say that sort of thing, for various reasons. Mega-gratz!

BTW, what is this "life" of which you speak, and where might I purchase one? Also, I am intrigued by your ideas, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter. Oh, wait....