Harvard Berkman Klein Center

Harvard Berkman Klein Center
Name	Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
Established	1998
Headquarters	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Affiliation	Harvard University

Harvard Berkman Klein Center

The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is an interdisciplinary research center focused on Internet-related scholarship and policy. Founded as a hub for scholars, practitioners, and technologists, the center has engaged with topics spanning cybersecurity, privacy, intellectual property, free speech, and digital governance. It has hosted fellows and projects connected to prominent institutions and figures across academia, industry, and law.

History

The center was founded in 1998 and has interacted with institutions such as Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard College, Harvard Office for Scholarly Communication, Harvard Library, Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science, and Harvard Innovation Labs. Early collaborations connected it to external partners including Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, Mozilla Foundation, Wikimedia Foundation, Internet Society, World Wide Web Consortium, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, International Telecommunications Union, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Council of Europe, and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Notable figures associated through fellowships or events include Lawrence Lessig, Yochai Benkler, Tim Berners-Lee, Vint Cerf, Susan Crawford, Rebecca MacKinnon, Jon Postel, Joi Ito, Bruce Schneier, Cory Doctorow, Shoshana Zuboff, Ethan Zuckerman, and Zeynep Tufekci.

Mission and Activities

The center's mission emphasizes research, convening, advocacy, and capacity-building, working with partners like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple Inc., Amazon (company), Twitter, GitHub, Dropbox (service), Oracle Corporation, IBM, Intel, Cisco Systems, Salesforce, Palantir Technologies, Airbnb, Uber Technologies, LinkedIn, and Reddit. Core activities include convening workshops with stakeholders from European Commission, United States Congress, United States Department of Justice, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Civil Rights Division (United States Department of Justice), World Health Organization, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, OpenAI, DeepMind, Allen Institute for AI, and Berkman Klein Center-affiliated labs. The center produces scholarship informing discussions involving First Amendment to the United States Constitution, General Data Protection Regulation, Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Communications Decency Act, and Patriot Act.

Research Programs and Projects

Research spans multiple programs and projects tied to entities such as Harvard Data Science Initiative, Berkman Klein Fellowship Program, Internet Monitor, Open Data Project, Cyberlaw Clinic, Digital Public Library of America, Global Network Initiative, Algorithmic Accountability Project, Decentralized Web, Blockchain Research, Cryptography Research Group, Privacy Tools Project, Fake News Research, Platform Governance Project, AI Ethics Lab, Youth and Media Project, Media Policy Initiative, Public Interest Technology, Access to Knowledge Project, and collaborations with Stanford Internet Observatory, Oxford Internet Institute, MIT Media Lab, Center for Democracy & Technology, New America Foundation, Brookings Institution, RAND Corporation, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Chatham House, Bertelsmann Stiftung, Open Society Foundations, and Ford Foundation. Projects have examined cases involving Cambridge Analytica scandal, Snowden disclosures, Apple v. FBI (2016), Google Books litigation, Napster litigation, Authors Guild v. Google, Inc., Eldred v. Ashcroft, Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., and regulatory debates around net neutrality.

Policy and Advocacy Influence

The center influences policy debates through testimony, reports, and partnerships with policymakers and organizations including United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, European Parliament, Council of the European Union, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, African Union, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, G7, G20, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, International Criminal Court, European Court of Human Rights, Supreme Court of the United States, and national courts. Its research has been cited in litigation, regulatory proceedings involving Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T Inc., antitrust investigations featuring United States v. Microsoft Corp., United States v. Google LLC, European Commission Directorate-General for Competition actions, privacy enforcement involving Federal Trade Commission v. Cambridge Analytica LLC, and standard-setting dialogues at Internet Engineering Task Force. The center has engaged with advocacy groups like ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Access Now, Public Knowledge, Electronic Privacy Information Center, and Common Sense Media.

Affiliates and Fellowship Programs

The center hosts fellows and affiliates from diverse institutions including Yale Law School, Columbia Law School, NYU Stern School of Business, Columbia University, Princeton University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, UC Berkeley School of Law, University of Toronto, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, Georgetown University, New York University, London School of Economics, King's College London, Max Planck Institute, European University Institute, Sciences Po, Tsinghua University, Peking University, National University of Singapore, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, University of Cape Town, University of São Paulo, Australian National University, University of Melbourne, ETH Zurich, University of Geneva, Karolinska Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia Journalism School, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Pew Research Center, Khan Academy, TED Conferences, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Atlantic Council, Aspen Institute, Skoll Foundation, Knight Foundation, and Mozilla Fellows.

Funding and Governance

Funding and governance involve relationships with donors, boards, and oversight bodies including Harvard Corporation, Harvard Board of Overseers, Berkman family, Klein family, philanthropic organizations like John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, Omidyar Network, Mozilla Foundation, Knight Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, corporate sponsors such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon (company), Apple Inc., and grantmakers including National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, European Research Council, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Council, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Governance includes advisory councils and oversight involving figures from Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and external advisory members from Stanford Law School, Yale Law School, Columbia Law School, University of Chicago Law School, and Berkeley Law.

Category:Harvard University research centers