The good folks over at the EFF held their Pioneer Awards fundraiser ceremony in conjunction with ETech this year. Ars Technica’s Nate Anderson covered the event, which not only recognized the efforts of award winners Bruce Schneier, Yochai Benkler, and Cory Doctorow, but also featured a debate between the EFF’s Fred von Lohmann and HDNet Chairman Mark Cuban on YouTube and the
future of copyright:

Wearing jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt that read “I’d rather be fighting the man,” Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban last night defended his view that YouTube is eroding support for copyrights and that its actions should not qualify for “safe harbor” under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). Calling it the “cockroach in the kitchen,” Cuban argued forcefully that YouTube, like Napster before it, is training up an entire generation to think that “anything goes” in the realm of copyright, and that Google’s recent purchase of the company only gives their actions more legitimacy.

Hear Cory’s acceptance speech over on the USC Center on Public Diplomacy site.