(I Law-4) Program

 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 24-28 March 2003 
 
 
 The Fourth Internet Law Program (ILaw-4) 2003 was held in the Le Meridian Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, between the 24th-28th of March. The main sponsor for this event was Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV). The number of participants reached nearly 130 from 13 countries.
 
 The Berkman Center is a research program that aim to explore and study cyberspace and help pioneer its development. Professor Charles Nesson from the Harvard Law School established it.
 
 The preparations for the program were initiated in cyberspace before holding it in real space in Rio by several weeks through the website (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw/). Participants were encouraged to read the materials relevant to Internet law available at the website and to discuss the content through the discussion forums.
 
 Ilaw-4 instructors included some of the world’s most renowned experts in such field. Included on the roster were Lawrence Lessig from Stanford Law School, Charles Nesson, Jonathan Zittrain and William Fisher III from Harvard Law School, in addition to John Perry Barlow, co-founder of Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Gilberto Gill, the Brazilian Minister of Culture among others.
 
 Professor Lawrence Lessig started the frist day with his lecture entitled (Introduction: Law, Code, Market, and Social norms). He addressed controversial issues surrounding cyberspace and debated the question whether cyberspace is regulated or not. He concluded by saying that cyberspace is indeed regulated, and not solely governed by law. Indeed, several factors play a role in regulating cyberspace, such as social norms, market forces and Internet architecture. The important question that we should address is not whether cyberspace is regulated or not, but what is the best way of regulating it?
 
 Jonathan Zittrain presented the second lecture about the Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). He elaborated on such information as to how those two entities were established and developed, and the pioneers who stood behind their development and achievements.
 
 Silvio Meira, from Pernambuco University, jointly presented the third lecture with Professor Charles Nesson, from Harvard University on the Digital Divide issue. Prof. Nesson distributed a questionnaire that asked the participants about the most important factors in bridging the divide between the information haves and have-nots. Two of the solutions suggested by Nesson were to introduce and enhance the regulatory reform in the telecommunication sector, and to bolster IT education in schools. He concluded by saying that the digital divide is of two kinds, international digital divide between industrial and developing countries, and national divide within countries between the economically-empowered and the disenfranchised.
 
 The final lecture of the first day, (Intellectual Property, the Internet, and the Economies of Culture), was jointly presented by Gillberto Gil, Brazilian Minister of Culture, and John Perry Barlow. The former talked about the globalization and its impact on our daily lives. Barlow mentioned that the time is now to redefine our vision of how we should get paid for our intellectual efforts. On a lighter note, he suggested putting all the Brazilian songs on the Internet in order to make them accessible to all since music is a common property and an international medium.
 
 The first lecture in the second day was by Professor Benkler about (Internet Access). He said that there are three “ideal” models of communications in the 20th Century: audio/visual broadcast, telephone and Internet. He concluded by saying that open networks will improve democracy, innovation and efficiency.
 
 The second lecture, entitled “Spectrum Policy”, took the form of a legal debate between Prof. Benkler and Prof. Larry Lessig. They debated the different systems of allocating the spectrum. They concluded by saying that one of the best policies of allocating the spectrum is the shared or the commons system, that if adopted it will at once help to improve innovation and development.
 
 Jonathan Zittrain presented the third lecture entitled “Technology of the Internet.” He discussed the different types of network such as centralized networks, decentralized networks and distributed networks as well as several legal issues related to domain names, Internet service providers, and encryption.
 
 The last lecture of the second day was presented by William Fisher and Figueirdo Murta Filho entitled (Domain Names and Database). Prof. Fisher mentioned the different types of disputes over domain names. In an attempt to find solutions to domain name current problems, he suggested the following:
 
 1. To improve the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).
 2. To increase the number of generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs).
 3. Not to give any kind of protection to generic domain names and apply trademark Laws entirely on it.
 4. To revert to the first come first served rule.
 5. To completely manage without the use of domain names through the use of search engines, link and bookmarks.
 6. To increase latitude of criticism and parody on the Internet.
 
 The third day started with two lectures by Prof. Fisher. The first, entitled
 (IP on the Internet), talked about methods of distributing movies and music over the Internet such as downloading, non-interactive streaming and interactive streaming. He also stated the existing defects of the current copyright regime as well as the potential benefits of the new technologies. In his second lecture, Fisher suggested three alternatives that would enhance the current system which are: private property, regulated industry, alternatives compensation and he examined each one of them.
 
 The third lecture was jointly presented by Prof. Benkler and Prof. Lessig entitled “Current Legal Controversies in the US”. Prof. Lessig talked about property and its significance to Americans who consider property as an equal to freedom and efficiency. He elaborated on some of the significant and related cases and legal arguments currently circulating in the US legal circles. In lieu of Lessig’s lecture, Prof. Benkler discussed the most important internet-related issues in the USA.
 
 The fourth day started with Prof. Benkler’s lecture entitled “Free Software and Commons-Based Peer Production”. The second lecture entitled “The Merit of Open Source Software” was jointly presented by Prof. Lessig and Jason Matusow, a software leading expert.
 
 The third lecture was jointly presented by Prof. Charles Nesson and Joaquim Falcao on how the Internet helps spread democracy and that it offers new means and challenges for free expression, then opened the floor for participants to discuss issues related to democracy and the internet.
 
 As for the last day of the program, it included many. The first lecture by Prof. Zittrain entitled “ Jurisdiction and Zoning” in which he talked about the jurisdiction and cyberspace law. He also examined some of the cases vis-à-vis jurisdiction and possible solutions to the jurisdiction problem.
 
 Marcos Carnuti and Prof. Benkler jointly presented the second lecture on privacy. Prof. Benkler explained the different meaning of privacy, its functions, and fair information practices, regulatory approaches to privacy. Marcos Carnuti, an IT Professional, talked about hackers and how it is easy to intercept communications as well as the precautionary measures and technologies used to prevent hacking or lessen the damages to such information systems.
 
 The program was concluded by a summary and an open discussion for all participants.