The UCLA Journal of Law & Technology (JOLT), in collaboration with the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy (ITLP), invites abstract proposals for a special issue on the role and limits of regulation in the online space, and on new and emerging internet governance models. Successful papers will receive a $1,000 honorarium, and will be published in a special issue of the UCLA JOLT. Authors will also be invited (with all costs covered) to present their work at a symposium to be held at UCLA in spring 2022.
The cross-jurisdictional nature of online information flows, and the enormous power wielded by private sector intermediaries, present a challenge to traditional understandings of the role of law and regulation. Governments increasingly seek to influence speech regulation through informal means, sometimes undercutting their own legal or constitutional safeguards in the process. Private sector intermediaries must balance aggressive, and often contradictory, demands from governments who have vastly divergent understandings of how online activity should be governed. Laws passed in one country can also have significant impacts on speech and privacy elsewhere, both through the emergence of new global regulatory norms and, more directly, through targeting extra-territorial actors. All of these factors have significantly complicated the role of government and of regulation online. They have also led to new governance structures, such as the Facebook Oversight Board and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, as well as multistakeholder bodies like ICANN, which also must define their role in the global governance ecosystem.
The purpose of this special issue is to advance understandings of the role of the state in relation to these emerging governance models, the role and limits of regulation and of self-regulation, and a broader consideration of law and policy solutions that foster a free, open and secure online space.
Abstracts of up to 750 words should be received by October 10, 2021 at 11:59 PM to ensure full consideration. Prospective authors should also include their CV, and a sample of another work which has been previously published or submitted for publication. We welcome participation from a diversity of global perspectives. Final submissions will need to conform with Bluebook standards.
Please submit abstracts, CVs, and sample articles as a single PDF to jolt@lawnet.ucla.edu. The PDF should be named Last Name_First Name_JOLT Symposium Abstract. If you have any questions, please send a message to JOLT at: jolt@lawnet.ucla.edu
If for some reason you are unable to meet the deadline and need an extension, please email us. We look forward to reviewing your submission.