In the twelve years since the publication of the paper “Law and Borders – The Rise of Law in Cyberspace” by David G. Post and David Johnson, law makers and courts in the US and EU have had to address numerous new questions arising from new information technologies and online activities. What have we learned applying existing legal principles to new Internet phenomena? What new principles have been established and what new concepts underlie these principles? What role will new regulatory models and regimes play in the future.

The Transatlantic Technology Law Forum (TTLF) [http://ttlf.stanford.edu] and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) [http://fsi.stanford.edu] will host the first Transatlantic Information Law Symposium on June 14, 2008 at Stanford Law School. The goal of the symposium is to bring together the leading experts from the US and EU to discuss current issues in information law and to promote mutual understanding of the different approaches.

The symposium will address the following topics:

Constitutional Rights and IT in the EU

The Right to Privacy in IT Systems in EU Law

The Right to Privacy in IT Systems in US Law

Freedom of Speech and the Internet in US Law

Network Neutrality in US Law

Property vs. Contract to Govern Online Behavior under US Law

Property vs. Contract to Govern Online Behavior under EU Law

The Future of Regulating Cyberspace - Open Discussion

This event is free and open to the public. For more information and registration, please click here.

Conference in Honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Visiting Austrian Professorship at Stanford

Thursday, October 18

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Session I: Managing the Global Economy

Lead Presenter: Ronald McKinnon, Stanford University, "The Evolving World Dollar Standard"

Panel: David Brady, Stanford University; Gerhard Hafner, University of Vienna; Stefan Schleicher, University of Graz

1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Session II: International Environmental Policy

Lead Presenter: John Weyant, Stanford University

Panel: Stefan Schleicher, University of Graz; Fritz Steinhausler, University of Salzburg

4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Session III: European Security Policy

Lead Presenter: Hanspeter Neuhold, University of Vienna

Panel: Heinz Gaertner, Stanford University; David Holloway, Stanford University; Fritz Steinhausler, University of Salzburg

7:00 p.m

Dinner

Westin Hotel, El Camino Real, Palo Alto

Speaker: Gerhard Casper

Friday, October 19

8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Session IV: Trade and Society

Lead Presenter: Tim Josling, Stanford University, "Biotech Regulations in the US and Europe: Consumer Protection or Consumer Protectionism"

Panel: John Barton, Stanford University

10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Session V: Development of Democracy in Europe

Lead Presenter: Christophe Crombez, Stanford University, "Democracy in the European Union"

Panel: Coit Blacker, Stanford University; Roberto D'Alimonte, Stanford University

2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Session VI: Roundtable on the Future of Transatlantic Relationship

Chair and Moderator: Bill Perry, Stanford University

Panel: Mike McFaul, Stanford University; Hanspeter Neuhold, University of Vienna; Gerhard Hafner, University of Vienna

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Follow-up session on future Stanford/Austria research collaboration

Professor Winkler portrays the 'German Question" through the lens of history in the past 150 years. He examines a variety of key issues that have arisen throughout German history and acknowledges that this 'German Question' period has come to an end. Professor Winkler also looks to Germany's future in Europe.

Synopsis

To Prof. Winkler, the reunification of Germany in 1990 resolved the ‘German Question.’ However, he argues that it has been a question not just since World War I but since the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Prof. Winkler believes that this event was not simply a struggle for territory but also involved striving for unity and freedom. These two key values, which Prof. Winkler emphasizes throughout his lecture, can be characterized by a constitutional nation-state. Prof. Winkler explains that although the 1848 Revolution was a failure, it was a step forward in that Germany realized that Austria was not going to be part of this nation-state when it would be created. Prof. Winkler cites that in creating the Prussian nation-state in 1871, Bismarck took care of the unity aspect. However, “parliamentization,” as he Prof. Winkler puts it, only occurred in 1918. He argues that this democratization of post-World War I Germany helped Hitler’s rise to power and then collapsed once Hitler started taking control of the government.

However, Prof. Winkler explains that Hitler’s fall initiated a learning process for the German people that was even more severe than after 1918, but this time not all had the chance to turn to democracy. Although many Germans longed to be reunited with their compatriots, a new mission for European integration of West Germany arose in as early as the late 1940s. Prof. Winkler explains it was an intellectual movement, primarily advanced by Catholic conservatives, which gradually shifted more to the middle and left. By 1986, this movement had shifted thoroughly left, at a time where many Germans had come to feel that the separation of East and West Germany was necessary, pointing to Auschwitz to support their point.

Prof. Winkler argues that once the Berlin Wall fell, the post-national identity that West Germany had created still remained. This created issues with many desiring European integration before German reunification. However, Prof. Winkler explains this notionwas argued down by notables such as Willy Brandt, who felt the guilt of World War II could not fade through indefinite division. Prof. Winkler argues that once Germany was reunified, although post-war guilt still remained, it had finally achieved unity and freedom, thus resolving the ‘German Question.’ Prof. Winkler finishes by revealing his belief in the uniqueness of German history in that while it belonged to the West, it had continually rejected the democratic enlightenment. Prof. Winkler emphasizes his belief that it is time for Germany to understand its history in order to know where ti stands now and how it can contribute to Europe. He argues that the way Germany confronts its history will be “crucial” to Europe as well.

About the speaker

Heinrich August Winkler studied history, philosophy, and public law in Tubingen, Heidelberg, and Munster. He was associate professor at the Freie Universitat in Berlin in 1970-72 and then professor of modern history in Freiburg until 1991. He has been at the Humboldt-Universitat in Berlin since 1992, and has been a visiting scholar in Princeton, at the Wilson Center in Washington, at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin, and at the Historisches Kolleg in Munich. He is the author of numerous works including "Germany: The Long Road West," for which he won the Friedrich Schiedel Prize for Literature in 2002.