Academic Freedom in the Age of Information Technology: Swimming against the tide

This article begins by briefly exploring the history of academic freedom, university research and teaching, as well as its modern legal protections, then goes over to the impact of information technology on academic freedom. The need for the law regarding academic freedom to keep up with the technological-advances made in the past half century is not only self-evident, but also integral to future academic endeavors. As a reminder of the urgency of such protection, the Scholars at Risk Network cites over 257 reported attacks on higher education communities in 35 different countries occurring in the year between 1 September 2016 and 31 August 2017. These comprised campus attacks, murders, disappearances, imprisonment, prosecutions, loss of position and travel restrictions. Academic freedom can never be taken for granted, and as one scholar has summarized it, “in a knowledge economy, policy decisions about who controls research, teaching, and learning affect basic living and working conditions in a democracy.”