Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference May 20-23 in New Haven

In this election year, U.S. technology policy in the information age has become part of our national debate, with issues such as privacy, intellectual property, cybersecurity, telecommunications, and freedom of speech penetrating the public conversation. Yet how do we make informed decisions about technology policy when the architectures of our information and communication technologies are still being built?

A group of technologists, policymakers, business leaders, and advocates will address the question at the 18th annual “Computers, Freedom, and Privacy” conference being held May 20-23 at the Omni Hotel in New Haven. The conference, subtitled “Technology Policy ’08,” is sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery, AOL, and Google, in conjunction with the Yale Law School Information Society Project and the Yale Law and Media Program. 

“The direction of our technology policy is critically important as it impacts the choices we make about our national defense, our civil liberties during wartime, the future of American education, our national healthcare systems, and many other areas of policy being discussed on the campaign trail,” said Conference Chair Eddan Katz, Senior Fellow at the Yale ISP and Lecturer and Associate Research Scholar at Yale Law School. “This conference is an opportunity to help shape public debate on those issues being made into laws and regulations, and on the technological infrastructures being developed.”

The conference will consist of workshops and tutorials examining a wide range of topics related to the future of computing, privacy and freedom in the online world—from data mining, wiretapping, e-voting, and electronic medical records, to file sharing, open access, social networks, and online anonymity.

For more information on fees, accommodations, and program information, and to register online, visit the conference website. Discounted early bird registration is available until May 2.