Symposium on Reputation Economies in CyberspaceYale Law School
December 8, 2007
Reputation, which plays a key role in almost any economic or social system, is a fundamental, but not well understood, aspect of online business transactions, peer production of information and knowledge, and exchanges within virtual social communities. Traditional modes of authentication, accreditation, reputation, and prior acquaintance with participants rely on the social norms of close-knit communities and the accountability of meeting face to face. Since these mechanisms usually do not apply to online environments, we have witnessed the development of alternative models for reputation management including third-party certificate authorities, peer-produced evaluations, ratings, stars, points, karma and others.
These new models, which apply to businesses, community-mediated information sources, people, goods, and services, challenge our accepted notions of identity, social capital, accreditation, expertise, and risk as they shift the reliance of reputation systems away from traditional business and social networks, educational backgrounds and institutional affiliations and towards the wisdom of the crowd. This shift, in turn, entails dramatic changes to information privacy, information quality, ownership and the ability of groups and individuals to affect these issues. Technology-mediated, cyber-reputation management is based on transactions in information that are often sensitive and always contextual. The data and information that are collected in online reputation systems are both valuable and powerful. The ability to control this information, store it, process it, access it, and transport it, are crucial to the maintenance of the reputation economy.
The symposium will seek to explore themes in individual reputation, business reputation, community-mediated information production, and the implications to democracy and innovation. The symposium, which will be open to the public, will bring together leading scholars from industry, academia and government to discuss the role of reputation in cyberspace.
Internet Governance Forum
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
November 12-15, 2007
The Information Society Project at Yale Law School, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Ministry of Education of Chile, the Hungarian Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement, IP Justice, Fundação Getulio Vargas School of Law in Rio de Janeiro (FGV-Rio), the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), and the Intel Corporation co-organize a workshop around the theme "The Digital Education and Information Policy Initiative: Towards the Development of Exceptions to and Limitations on Copyright in the Realm of Digital Education" at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) taking place on November 12 - 15, 2007, Rio de Janeiro.
Access 2 Knowledge 2 (A2K2) Conference
Yale Law School
April 27-29, 2007
The last several years have witnessed the coalescing of the
Access-To-Knowledge (A2K) social movement that champions human rights,
human development, and the public interest as the focal points of
innovation and information policy.
Yale’s ISP 2006 Access
to Knowledge (A2K) conference advanced our commitment to building a
broad conceptual framework of "Access to Knowledge" that can foster
powerful coalitions between diverse groups. The A2k conference brought
together over 300 leading scholars and activists from over 40 countries
to participate in the construction of an intellectual framework for
access to knowledge. Full conference proceedings and foundational
resources for Access to Knowledge are available at the Yale A2K conference wiki.
This year, on April 27th-29th 2007, the weekend of World Intellectual Property Day, the A2K2 conference will be a pivotal event mobilizing the A2K coalition. A2K2 will further build the coalition amongst the institutions and stakeholders that crystallized at the first landmark conference, help set the agenda for access to knowledge policy and advocacy, and deepen the understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of access to knowledge issues. Developing both a theoretical framework and delving into the details of practical implementation, the program will focus on mobilizing the private sector, governments, technologists, and civil society around A2K issues. A2K2's policy panels will be structured towards tangible legal and technological solutions and collaborative strategies for policy makers and individual institutions.
Open Standards International Symposium
Yale Law School
February 3, 2007
Technological design is political. In a digitally networked environment, technical decisions about the infrastructure of information and communications technologies (ICT) can have a broad impact on public policy, innovation, and economic growth. The decisions governing these developing systems are increasingly being promulgated in the form of standards. Technical standards are usually not established by legislatures or elected representatives, but increasingly play the mediating role of those institutions in resolving social tensions, such as access to information versus property rights and law enforcement versus individual civil liberties. Standards, once entrenched, can endure longer than other policy mechanisms because of user investments, product development investments, institutional commitments, and preservation of industry hegemony among powerful stakeholders. Economically, the intellectual property arrangements underlying standards determine the competitive openness of certain technology markets and intersect directly with global trade issues. On a technical level, recent interoperability problems in government services such as disaster response have prompted renewed political interest in open standards. In response, governments have established or renewed technical strategies based on open standards. Despite the significance of open standards in the global ICT context, even the meaning of openness is a contentious topic. This conference, the first to address global open standards issues from an academic perspective, has three objectives:Shed light on the controversial and value-laden concepts of openness, interoperability, democratic participation, and competitiveness in the context of standards. Afford an opportunity for political and economic stakeholders to find common ground on open standards. Begin to craft a theoretical framework exploring the concepts of open standards in the larger context of technology, markets, politics, and law.
Access 2 Knowledge (A2K) Conference
Yale Law School
April 21-23, 2006
In the digital era, most multinational corporations and policymakers
are of the view that the current trend characterised by increasing
intellectual property rights and corporate control over knowledge best
serve society's interests. At the same time, however, a growing number
of commentators believe that widespread access to knowledge (A2K) and
the preservation of a healthy knowledge commons are the real basis for
sustainable human development. Nonetheless, intellectual property-based
approaches continue to singlehandedly dictate global legal norms and
shape national legal infrastructures.
The first goal of the Yale A2K Initiative is to come up with a new
analytic framework for analysing the possibly distortive effects of
public policies relying exclusively on intellectual property rights.
Beyond this aim, the A2K initiative seeks to support the adoption and
development of alternative ways to foster greater access to knowledge
in the digitally connected environment.
The landmark A2K conference at Yale Law School will bring together
leading thinkers and activists on access to knowledge policy from North
and South, in order to generate concrete research agendas and policy
solutions for the next decade. This conference will be among the first
to synthesize the multifaceted and interdisciplinary aspects of access
to knowledge, ranging from textbooks and telecommunications access to
software and medicines. The A2K Conference aims to help build an
intellectual framework that will protect access to knowledge both as
the basis for sustainable human development and to safeguard human
rights.
Global Flow of Information
A Conference on Law, Culture, and Political Economy
Yale Law School
April 1-3, 2005
Patterns of information flow are one of the most important factors shaping globalization. Today individuals, groups, countries, and international organizations are trying to promote and control the flow of different kinds of information across national borders; information ranging from intellectual property and scientific research to political discourse, brand names and cultural symbols. And digitally networked environments subject information to ever new methods of distribution and manipulation. Fights over information flow are going to help define who holds power in the global information economy. This conference explored these emerging patterns of information flow, and their political, economic, social, and cultural consequences.
Regulating Search?
Yale Law School
December 25, 2005
Regulating Search? was the first academic conference devoted to search engines and the law. The symposium will bring together technologists, policymakers, entrepreneurs, executives, lawyers, computer scientists, and activists to discuss the emerging field of search engine law. It will examine trends in litigation involving search engines, identify the interests that are implicated by the increasing legal control of search, and discuss appropriate public policy responses.
State of Play III: Social Revolutions
New York Law School
October 7-8, 2005
State of Play III: Social Revolutions was the third annual State of Play conference on the future of cyberspace convened by the Institute for Information Law & Policy at New York Law School, the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. This year, we focused on social relationships in the metaverse and how to build vibrant, flourishing, creative places.
Digital Mix
Yale Law School
December 10, 2005
State of Play II - Reloaded
Fall 2004
The State of Play, an annual conference sponsored by New York Law School and Yale Law School, explores the next frontier in the evolution of cyberspace: virtual worlds.
Nethead/ Bellhead Conference
The FCC Takes on the Internet
Cardozo School of Law
Fall 2004
Digital Cops in a Virtual Environment
CyberCrime and Digital Law Enforcement
Yale Law School
March 26-28, 2004
Video streams:
Jack Balkin Intro
Keynote Speech:
Panel #1:
Panel #2:
Panel #3:
Panel #4:
Sat. Night Keynote:
Panel #5:
Panel #6:
The State of Play I
Law, games, and virtual worlds
New York Law School
Fall 2003
we will bring together game designers, lawyers, academics, and artists to discuss the complex social, psychological, and legal issues to which games give rise.
Digital Democracy
New York Law School
Fall 2003
This international collaboration aims to promote democracy by studying how new technologies can promote democratic deliberation, participation, and decisionmaking. We are interested in realizing technology's potential to improve civic life and help citizens take and active and informed role in their own governance.
The Democracy in Cyberspace Initiative
Revenge of the blogs
Law, games, and virtual worlds
Yale Law School
Fall 2002
The first academic program on Web Logs
Website