John Palfrey
Lecturer on Law

Executive Director – Berkman Center for Internet & Security

As Executive Director of the Berkman Center, John Palfrey works with the faculty co-directors to set and carry out the Center's ambitious, public-spirited agenda and oversees the work of its crack team of staff, fellows and students. John's work focuses on the potential of new technologies to strengthen democracies locally and around the world.

As Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, John's teaching involves:

• "Law, Politics and the Internet" (a new course to be offered in Spring, 2006 at HLS).
• "Cyberlaw and the Global Economy".
• "Digital Democracy," led by Prof. Charles Nesson and a group of Berkman Center fellows.
• "Internet Law Colloquium," with Profs. Fisher, Nesson, and Zittrain.

Outside of Harvard Law School, John will teach a Freshman Seminar at Harvard College in Fall, 2005 called "The Law of the Internet." John has taught "Internet & Society: the Technologies and Politics of Control" at the Harvard Extension School for the past four years. In Spring of 2003, he co-led with Prof. Jonathan Zittrain a Study Group at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government.

His research interests include the Internet and democracy, intellectual property, and technology law as it relates to commercial transactions. Recent work includes:

• The Open Net Initiative, (a joint project with the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab and the University of Cambridge's Advanced Network Research Group), which has released a series of publications and bulletins, such as the (co-authored) reports on China and other countries.
• The Digital Media Project, which has released a series of publications, such as a case study on iTunes and an amicus brief, with Profs. Fisher and Zittrain, in MGM v. Grokster before the United States Supreme Court.
• "The End of the Experiment: How ICANN's Foray into Global Internet Democracy Failed," 17 Harv. J. L. & Tech. 409 (2004).
• "The Accountable Net," 9 Va. J. L. & Tech. 9 (2004) (with co-authors David R. Johnson and Susan P. Crawford).
• "Public Participation in ICANN" (with co-authors Noah Eisenkraft, Clifford Chen, and Sam Hwang).

John came to the Berkman Center from the law firm Ropes & Gray, where he worked on intellectual property, Internet law, and private equity transactions. John is a co-founder and a former officer of a venture-backed technology company. He also served as a Special Assistant at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Clinton administration. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Charles River Watershed Association, which does terrific work to clean up our local river. While attending Harvard Law School, John worked at the Berkman Center, was a Teaching Fellow in Internet Law, and served as an editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review.

John graduated from Harvard College, the University of Cambridge, and Harvard Law School. His awards include the Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar to the University of Cambridge and the U.S. EPA Gold Medal (highest national award). John is admitted to the New York and Massachusetts bars.