No Frontiers? Free Speech and the Internet

Online we are all free to say what we like, write a blog, post a home movie, start a web site or join a social network community. Or are we?

No Frontiers? Free Speech and the Internet
Wednesday 19th November – Friday 21st November, 2008

Online we are all free to say what we like, write a blog, post a home movie, start a web site or join a social network community. Or are we? Who decides what is permitted, what files can be shared or images downloaded? What happens when countries clamp down on Internet use within their borders or demand search engines hand over our personal data? How can we protect our children from unsuitable material or ourselves from those who would use the web to steal our identities or micro-target us with commercial or political messages? What say do we have in what we want to keep private and who is an expert in a world where we can all pretend to be experts? We in the West may think we have freedom of expression but perhaps more than ever we need to consider exactly what constraints this may entail.

Who should attend?
This conference will be of interest to all sections of society: policy makers, bloggers, human rights activists, educationalists, parents, internet moguls and geospatial technologists! Participants should bring a laptop.

Cumberland Lodge is a charitable foundation which houses conferences, retreats and seminars on social matters, ethics and international issues. It is wholly independent and therefore attracts speakers and participants of all the talents. Guests at Cumberland Lodge enjoy food from award-winning chefs and graceful accommodation in historic and tranquil surroundings.

21st Century Trust brings together a rising generation of emerging leaders worldwide, from government, business, NGOs, academe, the media and other sectors. Its conferences provide a forum where these exceptional individuals, who otherwise would not have a chance to meet, identify the major challenges and opportunities facing them and the world in the decades ahead.

English PEN is the founding centre of International PEN, a membership association with 144 branches in more than one hundred countries, providing an active and supportive community for writers and readers around the world. It campaigns to improve the understanding of freedom of expression as a fundamental human right.

Conference Fee

The fee ranges from £390 (standard) to £220 (subsidised) for the three day event which includes accommodation and excellent food. There will also be a few student places available at £75. For a registration form please email Janis Reeves: [email protected]

Travel

Cumberland Lodge is readily accessible from the M3, M4 and M25 motorways. London Heathrow is 20 minutes drive away. The nearest station is Egham (not Windsor), 40 minutes from Waterloo on the Waterloo to Reading line. Participants will be sent detailed travel directions.

The draft conference programme is as follows:

No Frontiers? Free Speech and the Internet

Wednesday 19th November
15.30 Arrival, tea
16.15 Welcome by Dr Alastair Niven, Principal, Cumberland Lodge

Plenary 1
16.30 What are the new challenges? Can internet literacy be genuinely free?
Jonathan Briggs, Prof New Media Design, Kingston University/TheOtherMedia
Jonathan Heawood, Director, English PEN
John Lotherington, Director, 21st Century Trust

18.30 Reception in the Drawing Room followed by 19.00 Dinner

Plenary 2
20.30 The Dilemmas of Controlling Expression
i) Policing Free Speech in China
Li Fen Zhang, Editor FT Website;
Isabel Hilton, Editor, Chinadialogue.net

Thursday 20th November
08.15 Breakfast

Plenary 3
09.00 ii) Policing Free Speech in the UK
Dr Ian Brown, Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute
Jo Glanville, Editor of Index on Censorship

10.30 Coffee

11.00 Workshop: Defining the Boundaries
Rapporteur: Ross Anderson, Professor in Security Engineering, Cambridge University Computer Laboratory

12.45 Lunch followed by free time to enjoy the Great Park

15.00 Children, the Internet and Freedom of Expression

16.30 Tea

Plenary 5
17.00 It’s My Copy, Right!
Maria Farrell, Director, Information Coordination Unit, ICANN Corporate Affairs
Eamonn Fordde, Editor, Five Eight Magazine, Frukt Music

18.30 Free time followed by 19.00 Dinner and pay bar.

Friday 21st November

08.15 Breakfast

Plenary 6
09.00 Reputations Online
Siobhan Butterworth, Guardian readers’ editor;
Sebastian Cody, Media Consultant
Ben Beabey, Partner, Media, Farrers Solicitors

11.00 Coffee

Plenary 7
11.30 The Medium is the Message: the changing nature of freedom and identity
Speaker: Jonathan Ree Professor of Philosophy

13.00 Wrap up: Jonathan Briggs, Jonathan Heawood and John Lotherington

13.30 Lunch and departure.

For further details, please contact:

John Lotherington,
21st Century Trust,
25 Museum Street,
London WC1A 1JT, UK
E: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)20 7323 2099

From 19 Nov 2008
Until 21 Nov 2008
Cumberland Lodge, United Kingdom
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