The High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law is hosting a fantastic conference on March 4, 2011 about § 230, the safe harbor that shields online content providers from liability for defamation posted by users. It’s one of the most important legal aspects of blogging, and the Santa Clara event, called 47 U.S.C. § 230: a 15 Year Retrospective, offers a spectacular lineup of speakers. Look at this:

» Kenneth Zeran, plaintiff in Zeran v. America Online (4th Cir. 1997)
» Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
» Zoe Lofgren, U.S. House of Representatives, California 16th
» Alex Macgillivray, General Counsel, Twitter
» Kai Falkenberg, Editorial Counsel, Forbes
» Cindy Cohn, Legal Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
» David Ardia, Citizen Media Law Project/Harvard Berkman Center
» Chris Cox, Partner, Bingham McCutchen LLP
» Patrick Carome, Partner, WilmerHale
» Mike Rhodes, Partner, Cooley LLP
» Maria Crimi Speth, Shareholder, Jaburg & Wilk
» Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University School of Law
» Susan Crawford, Cardozo School of Law
» Nancy Kim, Cal Western School of Law
» Felix Wu, Cardozo School of Law
The event is co-sponsored by Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center, Stanford Law School’s Law, Science & Technology program, the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, the New York Law School’s Institute for Information Law and Policy, the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee, the EFF, and the Media Law Resource Center.

I can’t think of better way to earn five hours of CLE credit. And it’s free for law students, full-time law professors, the press, and public-interest attorneys