About Us

The event

The conference brings together legal academics and practitioners from around the world to consider and debate all aspects of information technology law. Previous years’ conferences have fostered links between educational institutions and legal practices across the globe, reaching out to a wider international audience each year.

The World Computer Law Conference was created as a response to the many challenges presented by the dynamic environment known as the Information Society. The event was initiated by Alfa-Redi, a Latin American civil society organisation, and the previous five events have run successfully in Quito (Ecuador 2001), Madrid (Spain 2002), Havana (Cuba 2003), Cusco (Peru 2004), and Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic 2005). In 2006 the event returns to Europe, hosted by the Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law at the University of Edinburgh.

The VI Computer World Conference will focus on the understanding that the Information Society is one of the most important technological developments of the present time, and as such it presents unique regulatory challenges that must be discussed by informed academics and proactive practitioners. The conference is centred on practical issues, but also it will analyse the most pressing policy problems seen through the strictest theoretical perspective.

Organizing Institutions

AHRC Centre

The AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law was established on 1 April 2002 with the generous support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The Centre continues the work of its co-Directors - Ms Lilian Edwards, Mr Andres Guadamuz, Professor Graeme Laurie, Professor Hector MacQueen and Dr. Charlotte Waelde. The Centre's research themes examine the synergies between intellectual property law and information technology law together with work on medical law and ethics.

Alfa-Redi

Alfa-Redi is a Latin American non-governmental organisation formed with the aim to research and discuss different aspects of the Information Society, and dedicated to postulating policy in that area, as well as suggesting required action to stakeholders. Alfa-Redi is the result of an online network of like-minded academics, practitioners and policy-makers in Latin America and beyond. Alfa-Redi works in four main topics: Regulation of the Information Society, Internet governance, traditional culture and ICT, and human development and ICT.