CyberLaw Blog

The CyberLaw Blog is run by me (Dr. Yaman Akdeniz). I am an associate professor in law at the Faculty of Law, Istanbul Bilgi University since September 2009. I was until May 2009 a senior lecturer (associate professor)  in law at the CyberLaw Research Unit, School of Law, University of Leeds.

I  teach and write mainly about Internet related legal and policy issues. I am also the founder and director of Cyber-Rights.Org, a non-profit civil liberties organisation since 1997.

I have been an international policy fellow of the Open Society Institute working on a project entitled Civil Society Participation to the policy making process of the Turkish Government in relation to the development of an Information Society in Turkey between 2003-2004. I have given oral evidence on a number of occasions in front of governmental bodies including at the European Union (including in front of the European Parliament Temporary Committee on the Echelon interception systems and its threats to human rights), United Nations, OSCE, and at UNESCO levels. I also acted as an expert to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Office in relation to the work of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and my report entitled Stocktaking on efforts to combat Racism on the Internet, was published during a High Level Seminar on Racism and the Internet in Geneva in January 2006.

When I can manage, I run several websites, projects, and blogs, these are:

• Cyber-Rights.Org
• Cyber-Rights.Net
• BilgiedinmeHakki.Org
• Turkish Right to Information Blog
• CyberLaw.org.uk

The CyberLaw Blog will have links to news items, policy initiatives, legal developments, parliamentary debate, and court cases related to the topic of cyberlaw. More specifically, I will cover items related to free speech and censorship, defamation, ISP liability, hate speech and racist content, pornography, child pornography, cybercrimes, privacy, surveillance, data protection, data retention, consumer protection, copyright infringement, P2P networks and piracy, and cyber terrorism.

I can be contacted at lawya@cyber-rights.org.

Yaman Akdeniz’s Work Experience

• Associate Professor in Law, Faculty of Law, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey (September 2009 -).
• Senior Lecturer in Law, School of Law, University of Leeds, Co-ordinator of the CyberLaw Research Unit, Director of LLM in CyberLaw Programme (February 2001 -May 2009).
• Acted as an expert to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Office and prepared a report entitled Stocktaking on efforts to combat Racism on the Internet, for the High Level Seminar on Racism and the Internet, Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, Fourth session, Geneva, 16-27 January 2006, (E/CN.4/2006/WG.21/BP.1, published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Office: Geneva, January 2006, 45pp). Delivered the keynote speech on 17 January, 2006 in Geneva during the first day of the High Level Seminar on Racism and the Internet.
• 2005 Continuing Policy Fellow of the International Policy Fellowships program of the Open Society Institute, Budapest, Hungary. Granted 15,000USD to work on a project entitled A Critical Assessment of Freedom of Information in Turkey between October 2005 – September 2007.
• Appointed as an expert to the Home Office Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet (August 2005 -)
• 2003 Policy Fellow of the International Policy Fellowships program of the Open Society Institute, Budapest, Hungary. Granted 60,000USD to work on a project entitled Civil Society Participation to the policy making process of the Turkish Government in relation to the development of an Information Society in Turkey between February 2003 – March 2004.
• Visiting Professor, Faculty of Law, Istanbul Bilgi University, (October 2003-January 2004). Delivered an Internet Law and Policy module.
• Appointed as an expert to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (“OSCE”), The Representative on Freedom of the Media Project on Guaranteeing Freedom of the Media on the Internet, 2004-2006.
• Trainer, 2003 ICT Policy Training Programme (www.stanhopecentre.org/ict/), Budapest, Hungary, August 2003. The programme was organised by the Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy Research in association with the Markle Foundation and the Open Society Institute.
• Visiting Professor, Department of Legal Studies, Central European University, (June 2002). Delivered a 14hrs module entitled Privacy and Data Protection in the Information Age. Delivered the same module during the 2004-05 academic year in January 2005, and during the 2006-07 academic year in April 2007.
• Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK) (www.cyber-rights.org), Founder and director. A non-profit civil liberties organisation (January 1997 – present). Gave oral evidence in front of a Trade and Industry Select Committee on Electronic Commerce Inquiry at the House of Commons, March 1999. Gave oral evidence in front of the European Parliament, Temporary Committee on the Echelon Interception Systems, Brussels March 2001. Representative to the OECD Ministerial Conference, “A Borderless World: Electronic Commerce,” in Ottawa, Canada, October 1998. Issued series of reports (see www.cyber-rights.org/reports) and made submissions to various government departments (including in Ireland and at European Union level). Written a number of Global Internet Liberty Campaign Member Statements. Spoke at various conferences including at the Oxford Union Debating Chamber (May 2000), and at a United Nations Symposium in Italy (Dec. 2000). Chaired a session at the CFP99 conference in Washington DC and chaired two Lawtel conferences in 2000. Handled press inquiries on a daily basis and quoted extensively in relation to Internet related issues by the national and international press.
• Advisory Board Member of the Computers, Law, & Security Report (“CLSR”) since 1999 and a member of the advisory board of the Journal of Information Law and Technology (“JILT) since January 2001; Computer Crime editor, Encyclopedia of Information Technology, Sweet & Maxwell, April 2002 – . CyberCrime chapter editor of the E-Commerce Law and Regulation Encyclopedia, Sweet & Maxwell, April 2003 – .
• Independent Consultant, on Internet law and policy within the UK, Turkey, and the European Union. Clients include Internet Service Providers, non profit organisations (“NGOs”), Dot Com companies and law firms. (June 1997 – )
• GIPI – Advisory Board member for the Global Internet Policy Initiative (www.gipiproject.org/), (May 2001 –).
• FIPR – Advisory board member of the Foundation for Information Policy Research (www.fipr.org/) (May 1998 – December 2000).
• University of Leeds, Faculty of Law, taught part-time in the CyberLaw: Information Technology, Law and Society course (1997-98, 1998-99), Introduction to Study of Law (Part-time Education Undergraduate Degree Programme, 1998-99).
• “UK Law Online: The UK Legal System on the Internet,” (<www.uklaw-online.com>) project completed together with Professor Clive Walker, sponsored by the Hamlyn Trust Fund. The main object of the project was the raising of public awareness, appreciation and understanding of the UK Legal System by use of the Internet. Awarded 12,000GBP.