Prof. John N. Gathegi has just returned from the African Information Ethics Conference: Ethical Challenges in the Information Age held in Pretoria, South Africa, February 2007. Prof. Gathegi presented a paper titled: “Intellectual property, traditional resource rights, and natural law: a clash of cultures?”

The meeting brought together international academics and policy makers from around the world to address ethical challenges of the information society, especially within an African context. Many senior government officials from African countries were also in attendance.

The conference was co-hosted by the University of Pretoria, the Presidential Commission on Information Society and Development, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, among others. The South African government paid for air travel, ground transportation, accommodation, and food for all participants. The meeting was held in the facilities of the Kievits Kroon Country Estate and Spa, just outside Pretoria. “It was the most elegant and productive conferences I have attended in a long time,” said Prof. Gathegi.