This weekend at OVC you’ll have the chance to meet up with plenty of entrepreneurs and startup developers in the video space. One pressing issue facing the future of video startups is the potential threat of the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).

PIPA is designed to limit sites that are typically used only for infringing upon copyrighted works. However, a diverse array of tech entrepreneurs and human rights groups have critiqued the bill as too vague and thus potentially too far-reaching about what constitutes a site “dedicated to infringing activities.” This could lead to an unfair burden placed on businesses and sites that have many uses aside from “rogue” activity.

Web entrepreneurs are currently gathering signatures for a letter to Congress voicing their concerns. If you represent a video startup and are concerned about PIPA, consider adding your name to the letter.

This is just one of the ongoing debates that make our meeting this weekend so timely. We look forward to hearing our diverse group of participants weigh in on issues like these at OVC 2011.

We’re pleased to announce that Flumotion, a supporter of this year’s OVC, will be streaming the Open Video Conference. Our six keynotes will be streamed live via Flumotion’s Online Video and Radio Publishing Platform on open formats, with fallback to Flash, Windows Media, and Silverlight. The streams will also be available on iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows Phone 7 devices. All these streams will be available on the front page of the OVC site as well as on Flumotion’s site.

We’re happy to have Flumotion among our supporters. As active supporter and early adopter of open technologies, the new Flumotion platform enables the creation of HTML5 video players or live as well as on demand streaming. “The annual Online Video Conference is the perfect occasion to showcase our new HTML5 developments as well as our continued support of open technologies”, explains OVC conference speaker and Flumotion Co-founder Thomas Vander Stichele.

The OVC starts this Saturday at 9:30 AM with a keynote from Jillian York. This keynote will be streamed by Flumotion along with the following OVC events:

Jonathan McIntosh of Rebellious Pixels (Saturday, 10:00)
Cindy Gallop: Make Love, Not Porn (Saturday, 5:45)
Keynote: Gigi Sohn (Sunday, 10:30)
Brewster Kahle and Tracey Jacquith present the 9/11 Archive at Archive.org (Sunday, 11:00)
Keynote: Marvin Ammori (Sunday, 5:00)<

We’d like to thank Flumotion for their support and for offering these streams for those that can’t make it out to the event. Be sure to use the hashtag #ovc11 to join in on the discussion on Twitter.

It’s truly astounding how much has happened in the world of online video since we last gathered in 2010. We saw how citizen video became a critical element that galvanized the sweeping social changes across Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and the rest of the Arab World. We also watched what happens to public speech when it becomes too thorny to be hosted by private networks, as demonstrated by the take down of Wikileaks’ data by Amazon and Tableau.

As a researcher with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society (and now the new director for MIT’s Center for Civic Media), Ethan Zuckerman is one of the foremost experts on internet civil discourse. Last year he addressed the difficult tensions and compromises that exist with the current private hosting infrastructure for online video.

Unfortunately Ethan couldn’t join us this time around, as he is busily writing his book and transitioning to MIT. Instead, he was able to spare some time to record a video message to OVC 2011 participants where he discusses the impact of current events on these ongoing issues. Have a look!