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Events

Explore our upcoming events, find video and audio from our past events, and subscribe to stay updated on all of our talks, panels, and live webcasts.

Welcome to the Berkman Klein Center’s events. These get-togethers are all about having great conversations and making new connections in a friendly and inclusive space. We believe everyone has something interesting to say. Please bring your ideas, experiences, and unique perspectives. Feel free to critique ideas and speak from your own experience, all in the spirit of lively and respectful discourse.

Thanks for helping us create a great community atmosphere!

Our hybrid and virtual events are hosted on Zoom with closed-captioning. Questions can be submitted to the moderator, who will highlight popular and emerging themes and relay them to the speakers. Please note that translation services are currently unavailable.

Public event recordings will be available one week after the event. You can find them on the event page or BKC’s YouTube channel. For the latest updates, follow BKC on X or LinkedIn.

Respiratory illnesses like flu, COVID-19, and RSV affect millions annually. Protect yourself and others by wearing a high-quality face mask in crowded indoor settings and staying home if you're unwell.

Harvard University and the Berkman Klein Center welcome individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact our Event Specialist at events@cyber.harvard.edu in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for American Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance, if possible. Please note that the University will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.

For further questions about accessibility on Harvard's campus, we invite visitors to check out Harvard University Disability Resources page and the Digital Accessibility page.

For in-person attendees, below is a list of resources regarding parking and accessibility at HLS. Harvard is a tough area to find parking, but we do have a number of options around Lewis.

For those with accessibility needs who have handicap parking permits:

  1. Private HLS parking is available at 10 Everett St Garage (the garage recommended for events) for a moderate fee. Passes must be purchased in advance and printed ahead of time. For more info on Accessible Parking at HLS click here.
  2. Public handicap spots are spread out throughout Cambridge. Click here for a guide to public Cambridge parking, and click for campus interactive accessibility maps. The closest spots within reasonable walking distance and NO major roadways to cross are located at 2 Kirkland St, 23 Everett St, and 12 Oxford St. All 3 locations are located within 1 block of Lewis. Please note, so long as the driver has a legal handicap permit, they can park at any public, paid metered spot, or "Residents Only" spot in Cambridge, but MUST have their permit displayed at all times in their car window. If the permit is not visible, they will be ticketed and/or towed. They do NOT need to park in a handicap spot so long as their permit is visible.
  3. The most accessible streets to park on (meaning no major roadways to cross and within reasonable distance of Lewis) are Everett St, Oxford St, and Kirkland St.

For those not using handicap parking permits:

  1. Private HLS parking is available at 10 Everett St Garage, 52 Oxford St Garage, and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. These are the 3 privately owned Harvard garages recommended. Click here for daily permit purchasing information, which must be done ahead of the event. A day rate is $25. Click here for Harvard’s Parking Map.
  2. Public, metered parking spots are available. They range in maximum parking time limit from 2-4 hours for $1.50-$2.00/hour. Please note, if you pay using the mobile Passport Parking app, you will NOT be able to renew your session once it ends. You will have to feed the meter using coins as the app will not permit you to surpass the maximum parking limit. (continued below).
  3. Car-pooling and public transportation are great ways to save money and time. These methods of transportation are highly recommended to those who can do so! 

The Berkman Klein Center is located on the 4th and 5th floors of the Lewis Law Center. The street address is 1557 Massachusetts Avenue. Most events occur in the 5th floor multipurpose room. The Center is wheelchair-accessible and includes accessible restrooms. The building is key card access only. For public events, staff will be stationed at the door to allow entry.

If an event is being catered, it will be noted in the event description and you will be prompted to indicate your dietary preferences on the RSVP form. Food is always offered on a first come, first served basis. The more we know, the better we can prepare, so please always RSVP. If you were unable to RSVP, please still come but consider not taking a meal unless there is an abundance.

Using a variety of local caterers, BKC does its best to provide an assortment of clearly labeled dietary options at all catered events. We usually have vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options available.

For all event related needs or concerns, please contact someone on our Events Team at events@cyber.harvard.edu or call our Event Specialist at 617-384-0596. Thank you.

Past Events

Apr 27, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

"Chilling Effects": Insights on how laws and surveillance impact people online

with Jon Penney

In this talk, Jon will draw on his doctoral research at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, to fill in some of the gaps in our understanding of chilling effects…

Apr 26, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Why the Right Digital Decisions Will Make America Strong

with Susan Crawford, the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a co-director of the Berkman Center

A conversation on high speed internet, infrastructure, and the future of innovation and competitiveness, with Susan Crawford, the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at…

Apr 20, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

The North American Information Technology Marketplace: Three Decades of IT Channel Evolution and the Continued Importance of Small IT Companies

with Alan Weinberger ’73, Entrepreneur and Founder and CEO, The ASCII Group, Inc.

This talk will address the development of the information technology marketplace over the past three decades and the continued importance of small IT companies.

Apr 19, 2016 @ 12:30 PM

Giovanni Buttarelli, European Data Protection Supervisor

Ethics as the Root of Privacy and the Future of Data Protection

On Tuesday, 19 April 2016, MIT’s Internet Policy Research Initiative (IPRI), MIT Media Lab and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University are proud to host…

Apr 19, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Copyright Law Year in Review

with Peter S. Menell, the Koret Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law and a Director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology

What ties together cheerleader outfits, monkey selfies, the Batmobile, a chicken sandwich, Yoga, and Yoda? Professor Peter Menell will provide an exhilarating copyright year in…

Apr 15, 2016 @ 9:00 AM

Conectados al Sur - Breakfast of Ideas

Hate speech, Race and Inequality in Colombia and Brazil

The Breakfast of Ideas event seeks to gather both people from Latin American and individuals who have a sincere interest in Latin American affairs revolving around issues of…

Apr 12, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

A Burglar’s Guide to the City: On Architecture and Crime

with author Geoff Manaugh

Join Geoff Manaugh, author of the new book A Burglar’s Guide to the City, to discuss more than two thousand years’ worth of heists and break-ins, with a discussion ranging from…

Apr 11, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Online Violence Against Women & Emerging Legal Protections

A Conversation with Congresswoman Katherine Clark

  Monday, April 11, 12pm-1pm Harvard Law School Campus Hauser 102   How do we protect women online post gamer-gate? How do we balance first amendment rights…

Apr 4, 2016 @ 9:00 AM

TRANSPARENCIA

A Symposium on Open Data and Anti-corruption in Latin America

  Monday, April 4, 2016, 9:00am - 4:00 pm David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 CGIS…

Mar 24, 2016 @ 8:00 AM

Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, Forum on Data Privacy

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is pleased to join with the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General, MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory,…

Mar 22, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Reconceptualizing the Right to Be Forgotten to Enable Transatlantic Data Flow

with Sanna Kulevska and Michael L. Rustad

The recently agreed final version of the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the European Court of Justice’s October 2015 decision to strike down the Safe Harbor agreement…

Mar 15, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Back to the Drawing Board: Student Privacy in Massachusetts K-12 Schools

with Jessie Rossman and Kade Crockford of the ACLU of Massachusetts

Technology moves much faster than the law. Here in Massachusetts, that’s left a gap between what kinds of technologies schools use to manage student information and in classrooms,…

Mar 10, 2016 @ 5:30 PM

Deterrence and Arms Control in Cyberspace

with National Intelligence Officer for Cyber Issues, Sean Kanuck

This discussion with the National Intelligence Officer for Cyber Issues will begin by highlighting the technology trends that are having a transformational change on cyber…

Mar 4, 2016 @ 9:00 AM

Conectados al Sur - Breakfast of Ideas

Latino STEM Alliance Boston

The Breakfast of Ideas event seeks to gather both people from Latin American and individuals who have a sincere interest in Latin American affairs revolving around issues of…

Mar 1, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

The Big Reverse of the Web: Are Our Policies and Standards Ready?

with Open Source developer, Dries Buytaert

Artificially intelligent personal assistants and algorithms are just the first signs of a web that's designed to deliver the highly personalized information to us at the right…

Feb 23, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Developing Effective Citizen Responses to Discrimination and Harassment Online

with Berkman Fellow, Nathan Matias

MIT PhD candidate Nathan Matias shares four years of research and design interventions aimed at expanding the power of citizens to understand and develop effective responses to…

Feb 19, 2016 @ 9:00 AM

Conectados al Sur - Breakfast of Ideas

Science Clubs Colombia Project (Clubes de Ciencia)

The Breakfast of Ideas event seeks to gather both people from Latin American and individuals who have a sincere interest in Latin American affairs revolving around issues of…

Feb 16, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Security and Privacy in the World-Sized Web

with Berkman Fellow, Bruce Schneier

We've created a world where technology permeates our economies, social interactions, and intimate selves. Yet these systems demand continuous access to us and our information, and…

Feb 2, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Engineering open production efficiency at scale

with computer scientist, Aaron Halfaker

Mixing systems thinking, advanced computation, and feminist theory to design for better open production communities.

Jan 26, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Civic Technology and Community Science: building a model for public participation in environmental decision-making processes

with Berkman Fellow, Shannon Dosemagen

Building on civic technology and grassroots community science methods, we’ll examine how open, online communities can support the goals of local groups as they engage with…