The Second Annual Conference of the Research Committee on Cyberspace and Information Law of China Law Society, sponsored by the Research Committee on Cyberspace and Information Law of China Law Society and organized by CASS Law Institute, was held in Beijing on December 23, 2017. The conference took “New Pattern and New Prospect of the Construction of Cyberspace and Information Law” as its theme and was attended by about 300 scholars and experts from various government organs, universities, research institutions and enterprises, including the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, Peking University, Tsinghua University, China University of Political Science and Law, Jilin University, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Zhongshan University, Beijing Normal University, Tencent, Alibaba Group, Sohu.com, and Zhong Lun Law Firm. The conference was divided into the following five parts: opening ceremony and keynote speeches; election of new Council; theme discussions; roundtable; and closing ceremony.

In the first part of the conference, presided over by Professor Zhou Hanhua, Vice Chairman of the Research Committee, Professor Chen Jiping, Executive Vice Chairman of China Law Society, Mr. Yang Shuzhen, Director of the Bureau of Policies and Administrative Regulations of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, Mr. Liang Zhifeng, Director of the Department of Policies and Administrative Regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Mr. Zhao Shiqiang, Deputy Director of the Cyber-security Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, Professor Li Lin, Vice Chairman of the Research Committee and Former Director of CASS Law Institute, each gave a keynote speech. In the second part of the conference, presided over by Professor Wang Weiguo, a vice chairman of the Research Committee, Professor Liu Hainian, Chairman of the first Council of the Research Committee, delivered a report on the work of the Council in the previous year. Then members of the Research Committee voted on and adopted the Work Report of the Council, the (Draft) Constitution of the Research Committee, and Measures for the Election of the Council of the Research Committee. Next, an election was held for members of the second Council of the Research Committee. The newly-elected Council consists of 226 members. Professor Li Lin was elected the Chairman of the Research Committee, also elected were 21 vice chairmen, one secretary-general of the Council, and 73 members of the Executive Council.

In the third part of the conference, the participating experts and scholars gave keynote speeches and carried out discussions on various issues around the theme of “New Pattern and New Prospect of the Construction of Cyberspace and Information Law”, such as main trends of development of cyber crimes, the construction of Research Committee, the right of netizens to delete their personal information in cyberspace, main elements of platform economy, legal research in the Internet age, subversive changes in ethics and rules brought about by new technologies, legal issues relating in the application of big data, the protection of private information by the civil law, the National Internet Platform of Consumer Dispute Resolution, legal regulation of the ownership of data in the age of artificial intelligence, challenges to traditional criminal law theory posed by the development of the Internet and information technologies, and the security of national defense information.

The fourth part of the conference was a roundtable in which the participants carried out discussions on various issues around the topic of “disciplinary construction of cyberspace and information law science” including whether cyberspace and information law can become an independent secondary discipline of law science, how can legal research and technology communicate with each other, how can different disciplines of law science communicate with each other, and how to improve methods of legal research through the application of new technologies.

The final part of the conference, the closing ceremony, was presided over by Professor Zhang Xinbao, Director of the Academic Commission of the Research Committee. At the ceremony, Professor Zhou Hanhua, the newly elected Executive Vice Chairman of the Research Committee, gave a summarization of the conference and Professor Shen Weixing, Dean of the Law School of Tsinghua University, gave a speech on behalf of the sponsor of the conference.