Transatlantic Conference on Global Online Freedom and Corporate Responsibility

The University of Groningen and GW Law hosted this path-breaking transatlantic conference on Global Online Freedom and Corporate Responsibility. The Internet has become the most important medium for worldwide communication and trade; however, the Internet also offers unprecedented possibilities for censorship, monitoring, and surveillance by authoritarian regimes. Western companies that supply information technology to such regimes facilitate this censorship, whether intentionally or unintentionally. At the conference, representatives of the U.S. Congress, Google, Reporters Without Borders, and internationally renowned scholars addressed these issues. The conference included keynotes by prominent speakers as well as multidisciplinary workshops organized by honors students from the University of Groningen and GW Law. Part two of the conference was held in Brussels on May 14, 2012.