Yale Law School’s Information Society Project will host “The Global Flow of Information: A Conference on Law, Culture and Political Economy,” at Yale Law School, 127 Wall St., April 1–3.
The conference will explore the emerging patterns of information flow and their political, economic, social and cultural consequences. Policymakers, academicians, legal practitioners and high-technology industry leaders will discuss the flow of information across borders, the attempts by various entities to control it and what role the law can play in securing freedoms and rights for individuals, groups and nations during this struggle.
“As technology changes the speed, storage and manipulation of information flow, policymakers need to reconsider what information is, how it is shared and how global policy can be guided to ensure the protection of fundamental freedoms,” said Eddan Katz, executive director of the Information Society Project.
Six panels will examine timely issues during the three-day conference.
Yale Law School faculty members Yochai Benkler and Robert Post will open the conference on April 1 at 6:15 p.m. with a keynote conversation on “Information as Flow.” They will discuss how information flow shapes who holds political and economic power, and what law’s role should be in regulating the flows. Professor Jack Balkin will moderate this plenary session.
Other panels will discuss national and international regulation, the effect of economic, political and cultural forces on the exchange of information; the global transfer of scientific information and the use of information in wartime.
The Information Society Project is a center for the study of the implications on law and society of the Internet, telecommunications and new information technologies.
Registration for the conference is free for Yale students, faculty and affiliates, as well as for the media; $65 for other students; and $95 for all others. More information, including online registration and a complete conference agenda, is available at www.law.yale.edu/isp.
