Editing Cory Doctorow (section)

==Life and career==
Cory Efram Doctorow was born in [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], on 17 July 1971.<ref>{{Cite web|date=17 July 2013|title=Literary Birthday – 17 July – Cory Doctorow|url=https://www.writerswrite.co.za/literary-birthday-17-july-cory-doctorow/|access-date=22 October 2020|website=Writers Write|language=en-GB|archive-date=24 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024062750/https://www.writerswrite.co.za/literary-birthday-17-july-cory-doctorow/|url-status=live}}</ref> He is of [[Ashkenazi Jewish]] descent.<ref>{{cite web|author=Doctorow, C.|url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a12634/what-my-father-taught-me-cory-doctorow-15526233/|access-date=10 May 2021|title=What My Father Taught Me: Cory Doctorow|website=Popular Mechanics|date=28 May 2013|archive-date=10 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510143315/https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a12634/what-my-father-taught-me-cory-doctorow-15526233/|url-status=live}}</ref> His paternal grandfather was born in what is now Poland and his paternal grandmother was from [[Leningrad]], Russia. Both fled [[Nazi Germany]]'s advance eastward during [[World War II]], and as a result Doctorow's father was born in a [[displaced person]]s camp near [[Baku, Azerbaijan]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Doctorow, C.|url=http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/02/azeri-donkey-video-b.html|title=Azeri "donkey video" bloggers arrested|date=2 September 2009|access-date=2 September 2009|archive-date=5 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905051959/http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/02/azeri-donkey-video-b.html|url-status=live}}</ref> His grandparents and father emigrated to [[Canada]] from the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="insight">{{cite web |last1=Jacobsen |first1=Scott Douglas |title=An Interview with Cory Efram Doctorow (Part One) |url=https://in-sightjournal.com/2018/07/08/doctorow-one/ |website=In-Sight Publishing |date=9 July 2018 |access-date=29 June 2020 |archive-date=30 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630141442/https://in-sightjournal.com/2018/07/08/doctorow-one/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Doctorow's mother's family were Ukrainian-Russian Romanians.<ref name="insight" />

Doctorow is a friend of [[Columbia Law School|Columbia law]] professor [[Tim Wu]], dating to their time together to elementary school.<ref name="nationalpost">{{cite news |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/toronto/toronto-superstar-academic-who-coined-net-neutrality-could-be-nominee-for-n-y-lieutenant-governor |title=Toronto superstar academic who coined 'net-neutrality' could be nominee for N.Y. lieutenant-governor |newspaper=[[National Post]] |date=6 September 2014 |first=Richard |last=Warnica |access-date=2024-11-10 |archive-date=2024-11-10 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241110150025/https://nationalpost.com/news/toronto/toronto-superstar-academic-who-coined-net-neutrality-could-be-nominee-for-n-y-lieutenant-governor |url-status=live}}</ref> Doctorow went to summer camp as a young teenager at what he has described as a "hippy summer camp" at [[Grindstone Island (Ontario)|Grindstone Island]], near [[Portland, Ontario]], that was influential on his intellectual life and development.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/blueprintforliving/features/sense-of-place/sense-of-place:-cory-doctorow,-grindstone-island,-ontario/9478254|title=Sense of Place: Cory Doctorow, Grindstone Island, Ontario|date=23 February 2018|website=Radio National|access-date=24 September 2019|archive-date=25 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925193732/http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/blueprintforliving/features/sense-of-place/sense-of-place:-cory-doctorow,-grindstone-island,-ontario/9478254|url-status=live}}</ref> He quit high school,<ref name=GMSFBC>{{Citation |author = Doctorow, C.| date = 2010 | chapter = There's a great big beautiful tomorrow / Now is the best time of your life | editor=Strahan, Jonathan |editor-link=Jonathan Strahan |title=Godlike Machines  |publisher=Science Fiction Book Club |location =[[Garden City, New York]] | page = 167 | isbn=9781616647599 }}</ref> received his [[Ontario Academic Credit]] (high school diploma) from the [[SEED School (Toronto)|SEED School]] in Toronto,<ref>{{cite web|last=Doctorow|first=Cory|date=July 3, 2023|title=Commentary by Cory Doctorow: SF Doesn't Predict, It Contests|url=https://locusmag.com/2023/07/commentary-by-cory-doctorow-sf-doesnt-predict-it-contests/|work=Locus|access-date=October 29, 2023|archive-date=13 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230913233340/https://locusmag.com/2023/07/commentary-by-cory-doctorow-sf-doesnt-predict-it-contests/|url-status=live}}</ref> and attended four universities without obtaining a degree.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Doctorow |first1=Cory |title=Graduation certificate from Mom and Dad |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/49871683232/in/datetaken/ |website=Flickr.com |date=8 May 2020 |publisher=Self-published by subject |access-date=18 May 2020 |quote=Graduation certificate from Mom and Dad. I finally graduated from high school (after 7 years!) in 1991. My parents were so relieved they made me this (which my Mom just found while doing some lock-in organizing and sent to me).     Love their optimism! I dropped out of four universities after this and never got a degree. |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801142246/https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/49871683232/in/datetaken/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Cory Doctorow has stated both that he is not related to the American novelist [[E. L. Doctorow]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://boingboing.net/2015/07/21/rip-el-doctorow.html|title=RIP, EL Doctorow|date=22 July 2015|access-date=24 September 2019|archive-date=4 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704170034/https://boingboing.net/2015/07/21/rip-el-doctorow.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and that he may be a third cousin once removed of the novelist.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.answers.com/Q/Is_Cory_Doctorow_related_to_author_EL_Doctorow|title=Is Cory Doctorow related to author EL Doctorow?|website=[[Answers.com]]|date=23 December 2012|access-date=16 July 2021|archive-date=16 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210716113518/https://www.answers.com/Q/Is_Cory_Doctorow_related_to_author_EL_Doctorow|url-status=live}}</ref>  Thomas Rankin in ''Guide to Literary Masters & Their Works'' (2007) describes Doctorow as "a distant cousin of author E.L. Doctorow".<ref name="rankin">Rankin, Thomas. (January 2007). "Cory Doctorow". ''Guide to Literary Masters & Their Works''. Salem Press. p. 1. Ebsco.</ref>

In June 1999, Doctorow co-founded the [[free software]] [[Peer-to-peer|P2P]] company Opencola<ref>{{Cite web |last=Heltze |first=Paul |date=9 April 2001 |title=OpenCola-Have Some Code and a Smile |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2001/04/09/235916/opencola-have-some-code-and-a-smile/ |access-date=5 April 2022 |website=MIT Technology Review |language=en |archive-date=5 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405195432/https://www.technologyreview.com/2001/04/09/235916/opencola-have-some-code-and-a-smile/ |url-status=live }}</ref> with John Henson and Grad Conn, which was sold to the [[Open Text Corporation]] of [[Waterloo, Ontario]], in the summer of 2003.<ref name="USCbio"/> The company used a drink called [[OpenCola (drink)|OpenCola]] as part of its promotional campaign.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/trade-secrets-open-source-cola|title=Open source cola and the 'Napster moment' for the food business|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|date=13 April 2013|author=Steadman, Ian|access-date=13 February 2019|quote=It's called Open Cola, a product first produced by now-defunct Toronto software company Opencola as something of a joke. Taking inspiration from Richard Stallman's famous dictum that free software was "free as in speech, not as in beer", it was meant as a kind of promotional tool. The recipe was published online for anyone to take and adapt. Version 1.0 was published on 27 January 2001 – the latest version is 1.1.3. Opencola closed in 2003, but Open Cola's recipe is still around.|archive-date=13 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190213183705/https://www.wired.co.uk/article/trade-secrets-open-source-cola|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Cory Doctorow @ eTech 2007.jpeg|thumb|Doctorow at eTech 2007, wearing a cape and goggles in reference to his depiction in webcomic ''[[xkcd]]'']]
Doctorow later relocated to [[London]] and worked as European Affairs Coordinator for the [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] (EFF) for four years,<ref name=USCbio/> helping to establish the [[Open Rights Group]], before leaving the EFF to pursue writing full-time in January 2006; Doctorow remained a Fellow of the EFF for some time after his departure from the EFF Staff.<ref name=USCbio/><ref>As of 24 September 2019, the name Doctorow no longer appears in search results for uscpublicdiplomacy.com.</ref> He was named the 2006–2007 Canadian [[Fulbright]] Chair for [[Public Diplomacy]] at the [[USC Center on Public Diplomacy]], sponsored jointly by the Royal Fulbright Commission,<ref>{{cite web |author = Fulbright-Canada Staff | url=http://www.fulbright.ca/en/pdf/2006_Award_Recipients_Eng.pdf  |title=2006 Award Recipients  |access-date=2 September 2008 |work=Royal Fulbright Commission web site  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229090257/http://www.fulbright.ca/en/pdf/2006_Award_Recipients_Eng.pdf  |archive-date=29 February 2008 |url-status=dead 
}}</ref> the [[Integrated Media Systems Center]], and the University of Southern California (USC) Center on Public Diplomacy. The professorship included a one-year writing and teaching residency at the [[University of Southern California]] in [[Los Angeles]], United States.<ref name=USCbio/><ref>{{cite journal|url = http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i31/31a03001.htm|title = A Blogger Infiltrates Academe|access-date = 9 February 2008|author = Read, Brock|date = 6 April 2007|journal = Chronicle of Higher Education|volume = 53|number = 31|page = A30|archive-date = 9 July 2008|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080709004351/http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i31/31a03001.htm|url-status = live}}</ref> He then returned to London, but remained a frequent public speaker on copyright issues.

In 2009, Doctorow became the first Independent Studies Scholar in Virtual Residence at the [[University of Waterloo]] in Ontario.<ref name="waterloo4">{{cite web|title=University of Waterloo: Scholar in Virtual Residence|url=http://is.uwaterloo.ca/staff_archive.htm|publisher=University of Waterloo|access-date=8 June 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707204253/http://is.uwaterloo.ca/staff_archive.htm|archive-date=7 July 2012}}</ref> He was a student in the program during 1993–94, but left without completing a thesis. Doctorow was also a visiting professor at the [[Open University]] in the United Kingdom from September 2009 to August 2010.<ref name="waterloo4"/> In 2012 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from The Open University.<ref>{{cite web|title=Conferment of Honorary Degrees and Presentation of Graduates|url=http://www.open.ac.uk/students/ceremonies/files/ceremonies/file/Graduate-Directory-2012-WEB.pdf|publisher=www.open.ac.uk|access-date=13 February 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221235231/http://www.open.ac.uk/students/ceremonies/files/ceremonies/file/Graduate-Directory-2012-WEB.pdf|archive-date=21 February 2014}}</ref>

Doctorow married [[Alice Taylor (businesswoman)|Alice Taylor]] in October 2008;<ref>{{cite web|author = Doctorow, C.|url = http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/27/little-brother-uk-ed.html|title = Little Brother UK edition signed!|access-date = 27 October 2008|date = 27 October 2008|work = BoingBoing|archive-date = 27 October 2008|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081027214646/http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/27/little-brother-uk-ed.html|url-status = live}}</ref> they have a daughter named Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow, who was born in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/03/fine-news.html|title = Fine News|access-date = 9 February 2008|author = Doctorow, C.|date = 3 February 2008|publisher = BoingBoing|archive-date = 10 February 2008|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080210095608/http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/03/fine-news.html|url-status = live}}</ref> Doctorow became a British citizen by [[naturalisation]] on 12 August 2011.<ref>{{Citation |last=Doctorow |first=Cory |title=UK Citizenship Certificate, Cory Doctorow (redacted).tif |date=12 August 2011 |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/6034751827/ |access-date=28 July 2022 |archive-date=28 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220728165520/https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/6034751827/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2015, Doctorow decided to leave London and move to Los Angeles, expressing disappointment at London's "death" after Britain's choice of [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government; he stated at the time, "London is a city whose two priorities are being a playground for corrupt global elites who turn neighbourhoods into soulless collections of empty safe-deposit boxes in the sky, and encouraging the feckless criminality of the finance industry. These two facts are not unrelated."<ref>{{cite web|author=Doctorow, C.|date=29 June 2015|url=http://boingboing.net/2015/06/29/why-im-leaving-london.html|title=Why I'm leaving London|publisher=BoingBoing|access-date=30 June 2015|archive-date=30 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630011338/http://boingboing.net/2015/06/29/why-im-leaving-london.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He rejoined the EFF in January 2015 to campaign for the eradication of [[Digital rights management|digital rights management (DRM)]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Cory Doctorow Rejoins EFF to Eradicate DRM everywhere|url=https://www.eff.org/press/releases/cory-doctorow-rejoins-eff-eradicate-drm-everywhere|website=EFF.org|publisher=Electronic Frontier Foundation|access-date=31 October 2016|date=20 January 2015|archive-date=11 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911095405/https://www.eff.org/press/releases/cory-doctorow-rejoins-eff-eradicate-drm-everywhere|url-status=live}}</ref>

Doctorow left ''Boing Boing'' in January 2020, and soon started a solo blogging project titled ''Pluralistic''.<ref name="Pluralistic-20yearsblogger">{{cite web |last1=Doctorow |first1=Cory |title=20 years a blogger |url=https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/640203818282434560/20-years-a-blogger |website=Mostly Signs (Some Portents) |access-date=14 January 2021 |date=13 January 2021 |archive-date=15 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115091751/https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/640203818282434560/20-years-a-blogger |url-status=live }}</ref> The circumstances surrounding Doctorow's exit from the website were unclear at the time, although Doctorow acknowledged that he remained a co-owner of ''Boing Boing''.<ref name="Pluralistic-20yearsblogger" /><ref name="metafilter-doctorow-beatles">{{cite web |title=In the blog world, this is the equivalent of the Beatles breaking up |url=https://www.metafilter.com/186302/In-the-blog-world-this-is-the-equivalent-of-the-Beatles-breaking-up |website=MetaFilter |access-date=14 January 2021 |date=30 March 2020 |archive-date=15 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115120912/https://www.metafilter.com/186302/In-the-blog-world-this-is-the-equivalent-of-the-Beatles-breaking-up |url-status=live }}</ref> Given the end of the 19-year association between Doctorow and ''Boing Boing'', MetaFilter described this news as "the equivalent of [[the Beatles]] [[Break-up of the Beatles|breaking up]]" for the blog world.<ref name="metafilter-doctorow-beatles" /> Doctorow's exit was not acknowledged by Boing Boing, with his name being quietly removed from the list of editors on 29 January 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=Boing Boing: Wayback Machine snapshot as of 30 January 2020 |url=http://boingboing.net |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130012547/http://boingboing.net |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 January 2020 |date=30 January 2020 |quote=Doctorow's name appears as an editor on the Wayback Machine's 2020-01-29 10:09:04 Boing Boing snapshot, but it does not appear on the 2020-01-30 01:25:47 snapshot}}</ref>

===Other work, activism, and fellowships===
Doctorow served as Canadian Regional Director of the [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]] in 1999.

In 2007, together with Austrian art group [[monochrom]], he initiated the ''Instant Blitz Copy Fight'' project, which asks people from all over the world to take flash pictures of copyright warnings in movie theaters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.monochrom.at/piracy/|title=piracy messages|website=www.monochrom.at|access-date=24 January 2006|archive-date=14 January 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060114192212/http://www.monochrom.at/piracy/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://netzpolitik.org/2007/instant-blitz-copy-fight-project/|title=Instant Blitz Copy Fight Project|date=22 May 2007|access-date=8 April 2016|archive-date=17 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217023554/https://netzpolitik.org/2007/instant-blitz-copy-fight-project/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 31 October 2005, Doctorow was involved in a controversy concerning [[digital rights management]] with [[Sony-BMG]], as told in ''[[Wikinomics]]'', a book by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tapscott |first=Dan |author2=Williams, Anthony D.  |title=Wikinomics |year=2006 |publisher=Portfolio/Penguin Books |isbn=978-1-59184-138-8 |pages=34–37 |url=https://archive.org/details/wikinomicshowmas00taps/page/34 |url-access=registration }}</ref>

As a user of the [[Tor (anonymity network)|Tor anonymity network]] for more than a decade during his global travels, Doctorow publicly supports the network; furthermore, Boing Boing operates a "high speed, high-quality exit node."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.torproject.org/blog/what-tor-supporter-looks-cory-doctorow|title=This is What a Tor Supporter Looks Like: Cory Doctorow|publisher=The Tor Blog|access-date=28 December 2015|archive-date=16 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616210816/https://blog.torproject.org/blog/what-tor-supporter-looks-cory-doctorow|url-status=live}}</ref>

Doctorow was the keynote speaker at the July 2016 [[Hackers on Planet Earth]] conference.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://xi.hope.net/cory-doctorow-to-keynote-at-the-eleventh-hope/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317030857/https://xi.hope.net/cory-doctorow-to-keynote-at-the-eleventh-hope/|archive-date=17 March 2016|title=Cory Doctorow to Keynote at The Eleventh HOPE &#124; The Eleventh HOPE|newspaper=The Eleventh Hope |date=17 March 2016}}</ref> He also presented on enshittification at the 2024 conference, HOPE XV.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://schedule.hope.net/hopexv/speaker/HHK9UM/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240714202717/https://schedule.hope.net/hopexv/speaker/HHK9UM/|archive-date=14 July 2024|title=Cory Doctorow :: HOPE XV :: pretalx|date=14 July 2024}}</ref>

Doctorow was appointed as an A.D. White Professor-at-large at Cornell University from 2024-2030.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Science fiction novelist and technology activist Cory Doctorow appointed as A.D. White Professor-at-Large – Andrew D. White Professors-at-Large Program |url=https://adwhiteprofessors.cornell.edu/announcements/internationally-renowned-science-fiction-novelist-and-technology-activist-cory-doctorow-appointed-as-a-d-white-professor-at-large/ |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=adwhiteprofessors.cornell.edu}}</ref>

He is a member of the [[Democratic Socialists of America]].<ref>{{Cite tweet |author=Cory Doctorow |user=doctorow |number=1454158218117197826 |title=Uhhhhhh. I am a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America. I was raised by Trotskyists. This is, as the physicists say, "not even wrong." }}</ref>