Network Convergences: How Science, Law and
Economics Are Shaping the Course of Internet Telecommunications
Technologies
In the year 2015, how will you buy groceries or cars, watch the
latest Hollywood blockbuster, make a phone call, or read your
morning paper? These activities, and many others, will be
accomplished through a convergence of the Internet, telephones,
satellites, and other information technologies. Already,
the World Wide Web has spawned new forms of commerce and communication
that are steadily encroaching on more traditional forms.
What exact shape will -- and should -- this convergence of technologies
take? Will the Internet absorb the telephone network or
be absorbed into it? Will both disappear into a new, unified
information infrastructure? What issues will these changes
raise for business leaders, regulators, policymakers, and others?
ISLAT hosted a conference, Network Convergences, which focused
on how law, science and economics are shaping the course of Internet
and telecommunications technologies. The conference brought
together business leaders in traditional and emerging technology
fields; leading researchers and policymakers from governmental
and non-profit sectors; and prominent lawyers, legal scholars,
and economists. Over the course of two days, Network Convergences
provided a unique forum for discussion and interaction to devise
new strategies for understanding and shaping the paths of convergence.
Subsequent to the conference, a working group was established
to address the issues of economic commerce.
The conference was part of a long-standing interest of ISLAT researchers in how technologies transform our business environment.
In 1999, ISLAT, working with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago,
arranged for business leaders to interact with technology, banking,
and legal experts on opportunities and challenges relating to
consumer preferences, legal liability, jurisdiction and payment
systems, as electronic commerce explodes. Faculty members
from all parts of IIT taught groups of corporate executives in
an innovative executive program called Building Business on the
Web. Chicago-Kent was asked by the American Bar Association
to lead its multi-year "Internet Jurisdiction Project,"
which was directed by Professor Margaret Stewart.
The publication that resulted from the project was entitled “Achieving Legal and Business Order in Cyberspace: A Report on Global Jurisdiction Issues Created by the Internet,” 55 The Business Lawyer 1801 (2000). It consisted of an overview of personal and prescriptive jurisdiction and an analysis of how those principles played out in nine substantive contexts affected by the advent of the internet, including intellectual property, banking, and the sale of goods and services.
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