October 19-21, 2001 Ann Arbor, Michigan

The steady march of information technology plays an ever-increasing role in shaping, preserving, enlarging, and uniting humanity’s overall scientific and cultural heritage. With the growth of the Internet, an ever-increasing portion of all human art and learning is available at the speed of light, worldwide. The shared on-line environment, like our physical environment, constitutes a global commons, with similar imperatives for stewardship and preservation.

In 2001, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility celebrates its 20th anniversary by looking backwards and forwards two decades at the history and future of the global cybercommons. Panels and presentations examined the key historical events that shape today’s Internet, and the prospects for its future evolution. Specific themes of interest include:

• Information warfare and the role of nation-states
• Internet governance and censorship, past, present, and future
• The nature and role of “openness” on the Net (Open Code, Open Content, Open Access, and Open Communities)
• The emergence and evolution of virtual communities
• Information technology and the evolution of privacy and anonymity
• The Ownership of information: Free speech and intellectual property

Conference Organizers

• Nathaniel Borenstein, Program chair for the 2001 conference.
• Terry Gliedt, Logistics chair for the 2001 conference.
• Coralee Whitcomb, President of CPSR.
• Susan Evoy, Managing Director of CPSR.

This issue is available at http://www.cpsr.org/publications/newsletters/issues/2001/Fall/index.html

What’s inside...