» CURRENT PROJECTS

Open Law

While the Internet enables faster, more efficient communication, it also introduces an unparalleled level of transparency, or openness, to many traditionally closed processes. Can we balance the benefits of this new openness with its drawbacks?

Projects exploring this question include: Openlaw, experimenting in the 'open source' development of legal argument ~ Digital Discovery, examining discovery in litigation in the digital age ~ Chilling Effects, tracking legal threats (C&D letters) to expression on the Web ~ Tech Bill of Rights: Access to Justice, drafting a set of enforceable principles to preserve justice in a technology-integrated legal system.

Open Governance

What is open Internet governance? Internet users have criticized attempts by traditional governing bodies to regulate the Internet, yet even in the absence of official government action the Internet is governed—both by the social norms of Internet users and through its technical architecture, the code that determines how users navigate the space. Given its specific properties, can Internet governance be carried out openly and democratically, with the transparency often demanded of traditional governments?

Projects exploring this issue include: ICANN, an experiment in active study wherein Berkman affiliates facilitate remote participation at quarterly meetings of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), gaining both hands-on experience with the organization and data for explorations of the substantive legal, social and political issues that surround it.

Open Education

Cyberlaw is not simply a compendium of cases that happen to involve computers or the Internet. In cyberspace, technical architecture can determine and constrain behavior much as traditional laws do in our communities. To study cyberlaw, then, is to be mindful of the dynamics of the code. The Berkman Center's profoundly interdisciplinary approach to this study—encouraging development and use of Internet technology as a means of understanding it—informs a wide range of educational endeavors.

Projects in this vein of inquiry include: H2O, a project to develop software tools for computer-mediated teaching and learning, to be shared with the Harvard community and beyond ~ Classroom & Meeting Tools, an aspect of H20 that draws from our webcast/scribing work for ICANN ~ Internet Law Program of Instruction, a cyberlaw 'summer camp' for professionals in law, business and journalism ~ Clinical Program in Cyberlaw, which gives HLS students real experience in cyberlaw practice ~ Berkman Online Lecture and Discussion(BOLD) Series, a set of interactive online seminars.

Open Commerce

The unsettling by new technology of traditional notions of property is a familiar theme now reprised and reinterpreted—with a new urgency—on the digital frontier. How is the tension between proprietary and nonproprietary forces influencing the Internet's development? Can we strike a balance between the public and private interest? 

Projects examining commerce include: Open Economies, a virtual policy center for bridging the digital divide ~ Expression on the Digital Frontier, a project examining the Post-Napster battle for control of digital property.

Open Content

The question of who owns what on the Internet becomes critical when we consider that much of our shared cultural 'property'—in the form of digitized books and articles, art, and film and music—is in danger of removal from the public domain. Is it possible to preserve the public's part of the original copyright 'bargain'—including fair use—in an age when copyright has become favored tool of big business?

Projects exploring the issues surrounding intellectual property online, and those involving the creation of our own 'open' content, include: Creative Commons, an initiative to invigorate and protect the public domain ~ The Filter, our free public interest cyberlaw e-newsletter ~ Greplaw, a Slashdot-style site seeking to become the top Internet resource for news, substantive discussion, and expert analysis of cyberlaw issues ~ Copyfight: the Politics of IP, a daily weblog column on issues surrounding intellectual property on the Net ~ Digital Media in Cyberspace, a study with Gartner G2 of issues surrounding copyright law and digital media.