June 4, 2004

Center for State Policy and Leadership at UIS to present summit on cyberspace issues

"Issues in Cyberspace: Cyberethics, E-Commerce, and Spam" is the topic of the 2004 Public Policy Summit sponsored by the University of Illinois at Springfield's Center for State Policy and Leadership.

The summit will be held from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, June 17, in the Public Affairs Center on the UIS campus.

Representatives from academia, industry, and government will examine issues related to ethics, technical aspects, and government regulation of the Internet in a program designed for teachers, students, business and government professionals, and anyone with an interest in the field.

The keynote speaker will be Cem Kaner, Professor of Software Engineering at Florida Institute of Technology. The luncheon speaker will be Matthew Prince, CEO of Unspam.

Other speakers include Jonathan Feipel, Illinois Commerce Commission; James Moor, Dartmouth College; David Nicol, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Lori Sorenson, Illinois Century Network. Richard Schuldt, director of the UIS Survey Research Office, will present findings of a survey of the Illinois public about spam (unwanted online messages) and Internet sales tax. UIS Professor Keith Miller will serve as moderator.

Kaner is director of Florida Tech's Center for Software Testing Education and Research. He is an attorney specializing in representation of software authors, developers, and consultants. His teaching and research focus on software testing and measurement; computer law and ethics; and the safety and satisfaction of software customers, users, and developers.

Prince is co-founder of Unspam, a Chicago-based business and government consulting firm with the mission of designing effective laws to stop spam. He helped draft the federal spam act as well as anti-spam laws in several states. He teaches as an adjunct professor at John Marshall Law School.

Feipel is assistant director of the Illinois Commerce Commission's Telecommunications Division, the section responsible for developing competition and regulating monopoly in the state's telecommunications industry.

Moor is a professor of philosophy at Dartmouth whose professional interests include the philosophy of artificial intelligence and ethics. His publications include Cyberphilosophy: The Intersection of Philosophy and Computing (2002 Basil Blackwell) and The Digital Phoenix: How Computers are Changing Philosophy (2000 Basil Blackwell).

Nicol is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UIUC and a research professor in the Coordinated Science Laboratory there. His research interests include high-performance computing and cyber-security technology and policy issues.

Sorenson is interim director of the Illinois Century Network. ICN is the telecommunications backbone that provides high-speed access to data, video and audio communications for schools, libraries, colleges and universities, and state and local government agencies in Illinois.

Miller is professor of computer science at UIS. His teaching and research interests focus on computer ethics and he is one of the project leaders of DOLCE (Developing On/Off-line Computer Ethics), a three-year program funded by the National Science Foundation that is designed to educate and support computer science faculty who want to teach about computer ethics, professional ethics, or computers and society issues.

The Center for State Policy and Leadership, the policy center of UIS, has as its mission to research, evaluate, and help form effective public policy; educate citizens on public affairs issues; and provide leadership and professional development programs. The Center also provides a national stage for scholars, students, policymakers, and citizens to exchange ideas, engage in research, and expand understanding of public policy issues.

Support for the Public Policy Summit was provided by the UIS Speakers' Award Committee.

Registration, including lunch, is $25 for the general public, $15 for UIS students and employees.

To make a reservation, go to http://cspl.uis.edu or call (217) 206-6502 no later than June 10, 2004.

Contact: Barbara Ferrara, 217/206-6576