Consilience 2010

The Law and Technology Committee (elTek) of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore is hosting ‘Consilience’, a conference, where, as the name suggests, a multi-disciplinary approach is adopted to tackle and discuss a topic of contemporary relevance. Past editions of the conference have brought together luminaries like Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia (Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission), Mr. R. Ramraj (MD and CEO, Sify Technologies Ltd.,), Mr. Richard Stallman (Founder – GNU Project), Hon’ble Justice Yatindra Singh (Allahabad High Court, India), Mr. Rahul Matthan (Partner, Trilegal ) and discussed contemporary issues such as “Legal Aspects of Business Process Outsourcing”, “Biotechnology and the Law” and“Free and Open Source Software".

The use of the Internet has proliferated in the past few years, and the positive side is clear to see. However, there is also a huge negative associated with this growth in use of the Internet. With the free dissemination of information, there is also dissemination of illegal and immoral materials. For instance, copyright protected songs and movies are found easily on the internet, sometimes even before they are officially released. The Internet has also made obscene materials like child pornography easily accessible at the click of a button. All of this has a marked negative impact on society and therefore, due to the overriding social interest at stake, the State steps in to regulate and punish the offenders. Internet intermediary liability affects everyone who uses the Internet in numerous ways, both directly and indirectly. Internet intermediary liability could shape the very future of the Internet, yet it surprising how little it has been discussed in India.