I&J Observatory Meeting at Oxford Internet Institute

Bringing Together the Experts of the I&J Observatory

The most recent I&J Observatory Meeting was held virtually from the Oxford Internet Institute on April 24, 2017, allowing members to take stock of the state of research on topics of internet jurisdiction and contribute to the upcoming projects of the Internet & Jurisdiction policy network.

At present, members of the I&J Observatory come from 17 countries and 28 leading institutions, including Harvard University, the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, the Institute for Technology & Society Rio, National Law University Delhi, Oxford University, and Stanford University. Support from the I&J Observatory ensures that Internet & Jurisdiction's policy process is evidence-based.

Past Meetings of the I&J Observatory

Centre Pompidou | Paris, France
In 2013, the inaugural I&J Observatory Meeting gathered members along with guest scholar Vint Cerf, the co-founder of the internet, for a one-day workshop titled "What is the Geography of Cyberspace? Cross-border Internet, national jurisdictions and the quest for appropriate frameworks" at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Humboldt Institute | Berlin, Germany
The 2nd annual I&J Observatory Meeting was held in 2014 at the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin. Observatory members analyzed the due process framework emerging from I&J's global multistakeholder dialogue process, and the I&J Secretariat launched the official release of the 2012 and 2013 Retrospect Case Collections.

Stanford University | Stanford, California, USA
In 2015, the 3rd annual I&J Observatory Meeting took place at Stanford University in partnership with Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society. Members discussed different theoretical modalities for collecting emerging norms and best practices concerning cross-border requests, and cited the utility of a potential I&J Retrospect Database, which was unveiled the following year in 2016.

The Role of the I&J Observatory in the Retrospect Process

Since 2012, Internet & Jurisdiction has documented policy developments, judicial decisions, international agreements, and other cases that reflect jurisdictional tensions on the cross-border internet for its flagship, open-access publication, Retrospect. Retrospect has become a highly respected tool for enabling evidence-based policy debates, reaching an audience of key decision-makers and influencers from all stakeholder groups and continents.

Each month, members of the I&J Observatory crowd-rank concise summaries of influential cases submitted by the I&J Secretariat via a customized digital platform. The top 20 cases are subsequently added, in order, to the I&J Retrospect Database, which contains more than 1,200 cases from 117 different countries as of early 2017.