Check it Out: "Digital Pathways to Asia"

The latest edition of the Harvard Law Bulletin looks closely at several Berkman research efforts which examine the relationship between law and technology in Asia:

"The Berkman Center is approaching piracy through its Digital Media in Asia project, which, among other things, promotes a digital media exchange in China. Meanwhile, the center's OpenNet Initiative is taking a hard look at filtering, aiming to create a body of empirical, legal and technical research showing the extent to which repressive regimes block access to the Internet and practice surveillance online.  And, in its Global Voices Online project, the center's scholars and students are emphasizing the other side of the surveillance coin, highlighting the independent voices that manage to escape the censors through blogs, podcasts and other forms of "citizens' media."

"As of next year, China will have more people in the world using the Internet than any other place in the world," said Harvard Law School Clinical Professor John Palfrey, the Berkman Center's executive director. "China will be the most important market for Internet users. We believe that a relatively open Internet is helpful to economies, democratic activism, societal development and cross-cultural understanding, and a variety of other good things." And, he said, with the Digital Media Project, "we are looking at how international treaties and legal systems affect the way people consume digital media and figuring out if there are alternatives to the traditional intellectual property regimes which could make better sense for the digital world.""