IP Justice Media Release
12 November 2007
Contact: IP Justice Executive Director Robin Gross
robin@ipjustice.org
When: 14 Nov. 2007 (9:00 – 10:00 am)
Where: Room Quelez VI - Windsor Barra Hotel, Rio de Janeiro
Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
IP Justice International Cyberlaw Clinic to be Showcased at IGF-Rio
Global Network of Law Schools Poised to Promote Public Interest in Internet Policy
On Wednesday 14 November 2007, the IP Justice International Cyberlaw Clinic will be showcased at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The IP Justice International Cyberlaw Clinic is a network of top law schools from different continents working together to promote the public interest in Internet law and policy matters. The IGF is an United Nations conference to facilitate cooperation and multi-stakeholder discussion on issues related to Internet governance.
The purpose of the International Cyberlaw Clinic is to give law students from around the world hands-on experience developing Internet policy and negotiating with other stakeholders in an international forum. The International Cyberlaw Clinic is led by IP Justice Executive Director Robin Gross and an international legal faculty from the law schools participating in the network. The Cyberlaw Clinic also benefits from the expertise of a distinguished Legal and Technical Advisory Board, a group of international legal scholars and technical experts, including former European Union Privacy Commissioner Stefano Rodota, Canadian cyberlaw expert Michael Geist, representatives from Amnesty International, and Brazilian cyberlaw professor Ronaldo Lemos.
“IP Justice is proud to introduce this new initiative and honored to be working with such a distinguished group of experts to promote the public interest in Internet law and policy matters,” said Robin Gross, IP Justice Executive Director who created the project. “The clinic draws from a variety of legal traditions to bring a truly unique and global perspective to Internet governance issues,” Gross explained.
The International Cyberlaw Clinic officially launched earlier this month at the annual meeting of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Los Angeles. The specific project for the International Cyberlaw Clinic is to represent the interests of the ICANN’s Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) in policy development at ICANN. NCUC is the only constituency out of six at ICANN that does not represent a particular industry or commercial sector in policy negotiations. NCUC’s policy objectives include the protection of civil liberties, consumer rights, and the promotion of innovation and competition in online services. ICANN is the private nonprofit corporation set up by the United States Commerce Department in 1998 to manage the assignment of Internet addresses, but ICANN’s mission has expanded in recent years to include a broad range of policy issues related to the Internet.
The law students in the program will tackle Internet policy issues such as protecting free expression in the introduction in the new top-level domains (including Internationalized domain names) and reforming the privacy violations required by ICANN’s “Whois” database, which requires the publication of personal information on the Internet.
The initial law schools participating in the IP Justice International Cyberlaw Clinic are:
- Centre for Technology and Society (CTS) Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) School of Law in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law, Hong Kong, China
- National University of Singapore School of Law, Singapore
- University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) Canada
- University of South Africa Law School, South Africa
Members of the press and public are welcome to attend the showcasing of the IP Justice International Cyberlaw Clinic at IGF and hear from the program’s legal faculty and advisory board members about the project.
Speakers at the IGF-Rio Showcase Include:
Robin Gross
IP Justice Executive Director
Stefano Rodota
Former EU Privacy Commissioner and University of Rome Law Professor
Nicholas Dearden
Amnesty International, Campaigns Manger
Milton Mueller
Professor at Syracuse University School of Information and Chair of ICANN’s Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC)
Michael Geist
Professor of Law and Director at University of Ottawa Faculty of Law
Ronaldo Lemos
Professor of Law and Director of Centre for Technology and Society (CTS) Getulio Vargas Foundation Law School (FGV)
Dr. Hong Xue
Assistant Professor Law at University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law
Mary Wong
Professor of Law at Franklin Pierce Law Center
Carlos Affonso Periera de Souza
Professor of Law, FGV-CTS