Julie Cohen, Georgetown Law Professor and EPIC Advisor, was a guest panelist for an interdisciplinary conference on the governance and regulation of information platforms. She opened by explaining how most people see law and technology: Law is the immovable object and technology is the force preparing for collision.
Professor Cohen suggests that we shouldn’t think of these disciplines in that way, instead we should consider law and its impact on technology, the same way law has influenced the economy. “Law is already part of the changes we see,” said Cohen. Accordingly, she argues, that the law has shaped the economy and has given meaning to all areas of our lives. Law’s influence on tech should be viewed in a similar way.
In her book Configuring the Networked Self: Law, Code, and the Play of Everyday Practice, Professor Cohen examines the institutional forces shaping the emerging information society and the contradictions between those forces. She also discusses the ways people use information and information technologies in their everyday lives. Watch the entire symposium below. For more information on Professor Cohen and other topics, please visit www.epic.org.
