Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society

Overview

The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society is an interdisciplinary research center at Harvard University devoted to the study of cyberspace, the internet's development, and its effects on society. Founded in 1996, it operates as a university-wide interfaculty initiative housed administratively at Harvard Law School, and describes its mission as making sense of the digital environment in ways that promote human agency, dignity and genuine connection.

Key functions and role

The Center conducts research on topics including internet governance, artificial intelligence ethics and governance, platform accountability, privacy, digital art and online civic discourse. It builds tools and platforms, including the Lumen database of online content-removal requests and the Applied Social Media Lab's Transparency Hub, and runs programs such as the Institute for Rebooting Social Media. It hosts fellows, faculty and affiliates from dozens of countries, publishes reports and papers, and produces public events, podcasts and educational programming, though it does not grant degrees or offer for-credit courses itself.

History

Harvard Law School professors Charles Nesson and Jonathan Zittrain founded the Center in 1996 as the Center on Law and Technology, building on a 1994 faculty seminar examining early internet legal issues. A 1997 gift of $5.4 million from the Berkman family underwrote the center's growth, and in 1998 it was renamed the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. In May 2008, Harvard elevated the Center to a university-wide interfaculty initiative. In July 2016, following a $15 million gift from Michael R. Klein, the Center adopted its current name, the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Over its history the Center has led major public-interest reviews, including a 2008 internet-safety task force and a 2010 review of ICANN's governance and accountability.

Political positions

The Berkman Klein Center states that it does not take institutional positions on matters of policy, and its affiliates represent a range of academic and political perspectives on internet governance and technology regulation. Some conservative-leaning commentators have characterized the Center's affiliate community, which has included prominent advocates for stricter platform and campaign-speech regulation, as tilted toward left-of-center policy positions.

Leadership

Jonathan Zittrain, a co-founder of the Center, serves as its Faculty Director and Faculty Chair; he is also the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School. Alex Pascal serves as the Center's Executive Director, and Katy Doyle serves as Managing Director. The Center's Board of Directors sets its overall vision and major organizational decisions.

Location and contact info

Address
Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
Harvard University
1557 Massachusetts Avenue, 5th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Phone
(617) 495-7547
Email
hello@cyber.harvard.edu
Website
https://cyber.harvard.edu