“To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books.”
― Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol

This should be the true essence behind living in the cyber age, on 10th July 2021,  the ADR Cell of University School of Law and Legal & Studies, GGSIPU conducted a National Webinar on the topic “Cyber Utopianism, Digital Militarism And Cyber Gangs: A New Terrain For Social And Legal Studies.” The event was graced with the presence of Padma Shri Awardee Honourable Professor Dr. Upendra Baxi, who bestowed upon the event as the Chief Guest and Keynote speaker of the day.  The event showed a remarkable response from the attendees, as there were more than three hundred participants present in the zoom meeting and alongside many participants joined through the YouTube live stream of the event. The Chief Guest of the event is a Man who needed no introduction as he is a prominent member in the legal field and his works on various crucial matters are the reason behind the same.  The webinar commenced with the welcome address by Prof. A.P. Singh, Dean of USLLS.  Heading further Professor Baxi started with his insights on the topic, wherein he shed light on Cyber Utopianism, the belief that online communication is emancipatory and that the internet favours the oppressed rather than the oppressor. Moving onto Digital Militarism, which is the process by which digital communication platforms and consumer practices have, over the course of the first two decades of the twenty-first century, become militarized tools in the hands of state and non-state actors, both in the field of military operations and in civilian frameworks. Further, he also talked about the concept of Cyber Gangs which are quite prominent in today’s time as they are malicious users that use the Internet to commit crimes such as identity theft, spamming, phishing and other types of fraud. Sir also reflected on Excessive use of the internet, mostly for pleasure, leads to ‘internet addiction’ which is termed as Digital Escapism.  Lastly, in denouement the Chief Guest and the Key Note speaker Prof. Dr. Upendra Baxi Sir was gratefully presented with the vote of thanks by Prof. Afzal Wani of the University School of Law and Legal Studies. It can be concluded that the event was not only a great success but a stepping stone towards the changing technicalities in the legal field.

The event recording can be accessed here.