Information Society Project

For several years, the ISP has collaborated on A2K projects with partner institutions in Egypt, Brazil, and other countries.[4] This work has involved several workshops and conferences organized by ISP fellows, and culminated in a series of books, including Access to Knowledge in India: New Research on Intellectual Property[5] edited by Ramesh Subramarian and Lea Shaver, and Access to Knowledge in Brazil: New Research on Intellectual Property[6] edited by Lea Shaver.

The Institute's mission is both practical and scholarly.[7] It includes a clinic for Yale Law students to engage in litigation, draft model legislation, and advise lawmakers and policy makers on issues of media freedom and informational access. It promotes scholarship and law reform on emerging questions concerning both traditional and new media. The Institute also holds scholarly conferences and events at Yale on First Amendment issues and on related issues of access to information, Internet and media law, telecommunications, privacy, and intellectual property.

The Abrams Institute is a Partnering Organization in Free Speech Week, a yearly non-partisan week-long celebration of Freedom of Speech and Expression.

The program includes courses related to law and media; writing workshops; speakers, conferences and events; and career counseling and support for summer internships. The Program's director is Professor Jack Balkin. The Law School received a grant from John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to support many of these efforts through the Knight Law and Media Scholars Program.[8]

In Fall 2014, the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School and the Information Society Project of Yale Law School have partnered to present this series of 5 lectures as part of the larger Journalism After Snowden project. Journalism After Snowden, funded by The Tow Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is a yearlong series of events, research projects and writing from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism in collaboration with Columbia Journalism Review.[9] Speakers have included Ethan Zuckerman, James Bamford,[10] and Jil Abramson.[11]

The initiative studies the ways that foreign policy affects Internet governance, and the ways that the Internet has changed how foreign policy is conducted. It represents a collaboration between the Information Society Project (ISP) and scholars of international law and politics at Yale Law School.[12]

The Thomson Reuters Initiative on Law and Technology supports ISP's "ideas" lunches, and the Thomson Reuters ISP Speaker Series on Information Law and Information Policy. Topics have included copyright and net neutrality.[13][14]

In March 2014, the Yale Law School Information Society Project hosted a conference on Innovation Law Beyond IP.[15]

The ISP's Program for the Study of Reproductive Justice (PSRJ) serves as a national center for academic research and development of new ideas to promote justice with respect to reproductive health issues, provide a supportive environment for young scholars interested in academic or advocacy careers focusing on reproductive rights and justice issues; and provide opportunities for communication between the academic and advocacy communities. Priscilla Smith is the program director of PSRJ.[16]

The Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic (MFIA) is dedicated to increasing government transparency, defending the essential work of news gatherers, and protecting freedom of expression through impact litigation, direct legal services, and policy work.[17]

The clinic was established in 2009 by a group of Yale Law School students and, since then, has provided pro bono representation to clients on a diverse array of matters touching on issues of transparency, free speech, and press freedom. Clients include independent journalists, news organizations, public interest as well as advocacy organizations, activists, and researchers. The practice is focused in the state and federal courts of Connecticut and New York, although the clinic has represented clients in many other parts of the country as well.

The clinic is co-taught by Jack Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment.

Every year, the clinic hosts a FOIA bootcamp.

MFIA is part of the Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression, which is affiliated with and administered by the Information Society Project at Yale Law School.

The Yale Visual Law Project produces short documentary films on legal issues to advance public debate. Films include:

The Worst of the Worst (2012), a hard-hitting portrait of Connecticut's Supermax prison, where inmates and COs grapple with extreme isolation.

Alienation (2011)[18] follows the story of two families swept up in the 2007 raid and examines current controversies in immigration law and policy in the United States.

Stigma (2011)[19] explores the dynamic between the community and the police through the eyes of three people who grew up on the streets of New York City.