FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Third annual gathering of the Netroots to be held July 17–20 in Austin, TX

May 5, 2008--Netroots Nation organizers announced today that technology pioneer and professor Lawrence Lessig confirmed his participation in the third annual event, to be held at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX. The founder of Creative Commons will address convention attendees at a lunchtime keynote on Saturday, July 19, at noon.

"The progressive Netroots was one of the first communities to embrace technology as a way to empower citizens and root out political corruption, so I greatly look forward to participating in the Netroots Nation conference for the first time this July," Lessig said.

Lessig has been called one of the "leading minds in tech" and open-source democracy by the American Prospect. He has spent years working to make sure that as the rules of the Internet got written, they were done so in a way that put power in the hands of regular people. Last year, Lessig successfully worked with numerous members of the progressive Netroots, right-of-center blogs like RedState and others to get CNN, NBC and ABC to liberate their presidential debate videos so that anyone could post clips on YouTube legally.

Lessig's presentation at Netroots Nation will address his current focus: a non-partisan reform initiative to fight corruption.

The 2008 convention will also include panels led by national and international experts, including a virtual session held in conjunction with the 2008 Blogher Conference; identity, issue and regional caucuses; prominent political, issue and policy-oriented speakers; and the most concentrated gathering of progressive bloggers to date. Organizers expect to announce more than 100 speakers, panelists, and workshop presenters between now and July.

Netroots Nation rebranded in August of 2007 in an effort to more accurately reflect the makeup of its audience and mission of implementing programs that teach and empower Netroots communities to affect change in the public sphere. The 2007 gathering last August included a Presidential Leadership Forum that drew seven of the eight Democratic candidates.

Lessig's keynote is open to the media.

For more information about Netroots Nation, visit www.netrootsnation.org. Details about the credentialing process are forthcoming.

ABOUT NETROOTS NATION
Netroots Nation amplifies progressive voices by providing an online and in-person campus for exchanging ideas and learning how to be more effective in using technology to influence the public debate. Within that campus, we strengthen community, inspire action and serve as an incubator for progressive ideas that challenge the status quo and ultimately affect change in the public sphere.