GIPI | Other Resources

Internet Law and Policy Tutorial - PowerPoint presentation by the staff of CDT, June 2002 - a comprehensive overview of Internet law and policy - intellectual property, consumer privacy, surveillance, free expression, and the impact of technical standards - focusing on US law but also referencing European and international principles.

Here are links to course materials used by three of the leading law professors specializing in Internet law in the US. The first two are general overview courses, covering such topics as jurisdiction, content controls, privacy and intellectual property. The third focuses on intellectual property, but the online syllabus for the third course includes a very useful orientation program on the Internet that could well serve as an introduction to either of the two general courses.

Cyberlaw (2000) - Prof. Pamela Samuelson, University of California, Berkeley Law School http://www.law.berkeley.edu/institutes/bclt/courses/fall00/cyberlaw/cybersyllabus.html
Internet Law (Fall 2000) - Prof. Michael Froomkin, University of Miami http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/inet00/syllabus.htm
Intellectual Property in Cyberspace (2000) - Prof. William Fisher, Harvard Law School: http://eon.law.harvard.edu/property/ This course, while focused on intellectual property online, begins with a very useful "Orientation Program" covering "How the Internet Works" and other background topics, offers law students and others the basic technical background they need to understand the legal and policy issues.

Status Report on EU Electronic Communications Policy
The European Union has adopted requirements for telephone companies to open their networks to competition. This document summarizes EU policy and the status of implementation as of December 1999.

OECD -- Policy Requirements for the Information Society
An early overview of the policy framework. For other OECD documents on topics ranging from online consumer protection to digital divide to ecommerce, go to: http://www.oecd.org/dsti/sti/it/

OECD -- Understanding the Digital Divide (2001) A very useful overview.

G8 DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY TASK FORCE - Report entitled "Digital Opportunities for All: Meeting the Challenge" (2001) - contains a forward-looking Plan of Action with nine priority areas as a basis for developing countries to achieve sustainable ICT-enabled development, both economic and social. See also the Framework for Implementation.

UNESCO's portal on Communication and Information in the Knowledge Society offers a host of resources: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/index.shtml The UNESCO Observatory on the Information Society collects thousands of laws, policy statements and other relevant documents: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/observatory/index.shtml

Global Information Technology Report 2001-2002: Readiness for the Networked World, published by the Center for International Development at Harvard University and the World Economic Forum, Feb 2002. The Report includes: a series of individually authored thematic chapters related to issues of ICTs and developing countries, 75 national ICT profiles, extensive data related to ICTs globally, and a Networked Readiness Index that ranks 75 countries on their ability to leverage ICT networks. Much of report is available at http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cr/gitrr_030202.html.

The Internet in 2001: Casting a Wider Net, a Covington & Burling summary of the major global developments in the law of the Internet during 2001. http://www.cov.com/publications/InternetReport2001.pdf

ELDIS, a gateway to development information run by the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex Univ, UK includes a list of websites of organizations involved in Internet in developing countries http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/inter/int_lele.htm and a selection of short papers useful for policy briefings http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/inter/ibrief.htm

EU - Communication on "Information and Communication Technologies in Development: The role of ICTs in EC development policy," adopted by the European Commission, Dec 14, 2001. http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/document/com_en.htm

QUICKLINKS -- Links to news items about legal and regulatory aspects of Internet and the information society, particularly those relating to information content, and market and technology. QuickLinks consists of:

a free newsletter appearing approximately once a week. The newsletter is distributed by electronic mail through an "announcement only" mailing list. To be included on the mailing list, either fill out the form at http://www.qlinks.net or send an email to quicklinkshtml-subscribe@eGroups.com (HTML) or quicklinks-subscribe@eGroups.com (Text)
a Web site with frequent updates, an events page, news items organised by category as well as chronologically by issue and full text search. http://www.qlinks.net/

BAKER & MCKENZIE, one of the largest law firms in the world, offers a free E-Commerce Web site, with links to the e-commerce laws of many countries, plus analyses and other resources http://www.bmck.com/ecommerce/home.htm

The GLOBAL CYBERLAW NETWORK has created a list of resources with links to newsletters, law journals and legal materials http://www.gcln.org/utilities.htm

"Democracy and Network Interconnectivity" by Christopher R. Kedzie (RAND, May 1995) http://www.isoc.org/HMP/PAPER/134/html/paper.html A older (classic) paper that uses social-scientific techniques to measure the impact of "interconnectivity" and other variables on democratization. It concludes that ICTs are the strongest known driver of democratization.

ICT Development at a Glance - The World Bank provides statistical tables country-by-country on ICT infrastructure & access, including telephones; computers, and other media. http://www.worldbank.org/data/countrydata/ictglance.htm

Significant Developments in Global Internet Law in 2003 [pdf] Significant Developments in Global Internet Law in 2002 [pdf], by the lawfirm of Covington & Burling (2003) - summary of global Internet legal developments for the year 2002 - content controls, jurisdiction, intellectual property, privacy, e-commerce and network security - focuses mainly on developments in North America and Europe.

United States Internet Policy

In 1997, the staff of the Federal Communications Commission issued a Working Paper entitled Digital Tornado: The Internet and Telecommunications Policy. "Digital Tornado" represented the first comprehensive assessment of the questions the Internet poses for traditional communications policy. A central theme running through the paper is that the FCC, and other government agencies, should limit regulation of Internet services. The paper states: "Because it is not tied to traditional models or regulatory environments, the Internet holds the potential to dramatically change the communications landscape. The Internet creates new forms of competition, valuable services for end users, and benefits to the economy. Government policy approaches toward the Internet should therefore start from two premises: avoid unnecessary regulation, and question the applicability of traditional rules." http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Wireless/OPP/working_papers/oppwp29pdf.html

Online Guide To Free Computers, Software And E-mail

The Free IT Guide produced by bridges.org has two sections. A general resources section tells people how to find donated computers and get help from technology-savvy volunteers. It explains where to go for free website development and hosting, and how to obtain a free e-mail account. The Guide also offers help on setting up e-mail lists and discussion groups. Finally, it directs IT users to free computer training.

The second section provides information on free software. It not only lists resources, but also explains the difference between various types of free software and which packages are best suited for particular tasks. For instance, it tells where to find web browsers, email software and instant messaging programmes, and suggests free anti-virus software. http://www.bridges.org/toolkit/freeIT.html.