Welcome to the ISP

The Information Society Project at Yale Law School is an intellectual center addressing the implications of the Internet and new information technologies for law and society, guided by the values of democracy, human development, and social justice.

Much of the Information Society Project’s focus has been on memes, genes, and bits, the building blocks of our knowledge, our technologies, and ourselves. Memes are the fundamental units of the knowledge within a culture, propagating from one mind to another, flowing from one society to the next. Genes are the hereditary units that determine the makeup of organisms; they define who and what we are. And bits are the basic units of digital computing, fueling the rise of powerful information and communication technologies.

The Information Society Project brings together students, scholars, activists, and policymakers to define the problems and identify the solutions on topics stemming from the interplay between memes, genes, and bits in our contemporary information society. The ISP produces scholarship, teaches, engages in activism, and develops and spreads ideas addressing four key research areas:

Protecting and expanding access to knowledge to secure broader participation in cultural, civic, and educational affairs, help realize the benefits of scientific and technological advancement, and inspire innovation, development, and social progress across the globe.
Developing legal rules, policy frameworks, and technical architectures to promote democratic values in the digital age, including the preservation of privacy, freedom of speech, and individual liberty online.
Providing teachers and students with better access to digital education through the development of norms, policies and regulations that promote the best use of technological resources in education – giving educators the access they need to digital information, while at the same time protecting content producers.
Addressing the complex ethical, legal, social and policy impacts of the genomic revolution, including outlining the benefits and harms created by intellectual property and patent claims on biological entities.

Current Activities

Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference

The Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference will be held May 20-23 at the Omni Hotel in New Haven. In this election year, the theme of the conference is "Technology Policy '08."

Access to Knowledge Global Conference

Yale ISP will convene the third annual global conference on Access to Knowledge (A2K3) in Geneva, Switzerland on September 8-10, 2008. The conference will bring together scholars, policymakers, and civil society to discuss key issues of global knowledge policy.

Spring 2008 Courses at YLS

The Information Society Project offers Yale Law School students a number of exciting courses this semester. Eddan Katz will teach the Access to Knowledge Practicum and Michael Zimmer will lead a Tuesday evening reading group on Technology, Law, Society, Values, and Design. Visiting faculty Anupam Chander, Susan Crawford, and Madhavi Sunder will teach Law of E-Commerce, Internet Laws, and International Intellectual Property and Development, respectively.

Spring 2008 Lunch Speaker Series

Leading scholars and practitioners in law, technology, ethics, information policy, and intellectual property will discuss their research and the latest news and trends impacting the information society at the Information Society Project’s Spring 2008 Lunch Speaker Series, to be held weekly on Tuesdays from February 5 through May 6.

Spring 2008 Lunch Speaker Series Schedule