The Information Society Project and students at the Yale Law School are leading an international network in the design of a system for self-rating and filtering of Internet content which will respect democratic values, free speech and privacy. Sponsored by the Bertelsmann Foundation , this global initiative aims to address the problems filtering has raised for freedom of speech and the preservation of privacy and to offer a concrete and flexible alternative. The ISP's work on self-regulation of Internet content endeavors to create a best practices model which protects children from harm and safeguards the civil liberties of users. This is a best practices model, crafted in the hope that other users and institutions will develop kindred sites for culture, politics and education sites that will make the Internet, not only a place for electronic commerce, but a place for us. The Cyberlaw Roundtable brings together law students with electronic civil liberties organizations to investigate current issues at the intersection of law and technology.
Students engage in independent research and writing of papers.
These papers form the basis for presentations to the civil liberties organizations, other members of the roundtable, and interested faculty. Student papers are also posted on the Information Society Project site. They also studied issues raised by government surveillance of packet-switched networks, such as the Internet, drafting comments submitted to the FCC, and analyzed the effects on free speech of proposed revisions to the Uniform Commercial Code. Current research for the spring of 1998 include topics on international privacy law, Internet regulation and access to public information. Connecticut plans to turn over responsibility for all of its computer services, including the state's information databases of public medical, educational and motor vehicle records, to a single private contractor.