Intellectual Property and the Internet/Berkman Center for Internet & Society

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is a research center at Harvard University that focuses on the study of cyberspace. Founded at Harvard Law School, the center traditionally focused on internet-related legal issues. On May 15, 2008, the Center was elevated to an interfaculty initiative of Harvard University as a whole. It is named after the Berkman family, who owned the communications company The Associated Group (later sold to Liberty Media).

Sister centers started or inspired by Berkman founders include the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and the Oxford Internet Institute. Partner institutions, such as the NEXA Center for Internet and Society at the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy, and the Bangalore Centre for Internet & Society, have also been founded since the launch of the Berkman Center.

History and mission


The Berkman Center was founded in 1998 by professors Jonathan Zittrain and Charlie Nesson. Since then it has grown from a small project within Harvard Law School to a major interdisciplinary center at Harvard University. The Berkman Center seeks to understand how the development of Internet-related technologies is inspired by the social context in which they are embedded and how the use of those technologies affects society in turn. It seeks to use the lessons drawn from this research to inform the design of Internet-related law and pioneer the development of the Internet itself. The Berkman Center sponsors Internet-related events and conferences, and hosts numerous visiting lecturers and research fellows.

Members of the center teach, write books, scientific articles, weblogs with RSS 2.0 feeds (for which the Center holds the specification ), and podcasts (of which the first series took place at the Berkman Center). Its newsletter, "The Filter", is on the Web and available by e-mail, and it hosts a blog community of Harvard faculty, students, and Berkman Center affiliates.

The Berkman Center faculty and staff have also conducted major public policy reviews of pressing issues. In 2008, John Palfrey led a review of child safety online called the Internet Safety Technical Task Force. In 2009, Yochai Benkler led a review of United States broadband policy. In 2010, Urs Gasser, along with Palfrey and others, led a review of Internet governance body ICANN, focusing on transparency, accountability, and public participation.

Citizen Media Law Project
The Citizen Media Law Project (CMLP) is a project hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. The purposes of the CMLP are:
 * 1) To provide assistance and resources to individuals and groups involved in online and citizen media.
 * 2) To facilitate the participation of citizens in online media.
 * 3) To protect the freedom of speech on the Internet.

The CMLP's latest endeavor is Online Media Legal Network, a free legal consultation service connecting online journalist and media ventures with volunteer lawyers.

Internet and Democracy Project
The Berkman Center operated the now-completed Internet and Democracy Project, a self-described "initiative that will examine how the Internet influences democratic norms and modes, including its impact on civil society, citizen media, government transparency, and the rule of law, with a focus on the Middle East. Through a grant of $1.5 million from the US Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, the Berkman Center will undertake the study over the next two years in collaboration with its extended community and institutional partners. As with all its projects, the Berkman Center retains complete independence in its research and other efforts under this grant.

The goal of this work is to support the rights of citizens to access, develop and share independent sources of information, to advocate responsibly, to strengthen online networks, and to debate ideas freely with both civil society and government. These subjects will be examined through a series of case studies in which new technologies and online resources have influenced democracy and civic engagement. The project will include original research and the identification and development of innovative web-based tools that support the goals of the project. The team, led by Project Director Bruce Etling, will draw on communities from around the world, with a focus on the Middle East."

StopBadware
In 2006, the Berkman Center established the non-profit organization StopBadware, which aims to stop viruses, spyware, and other threats to the open Internet. In 2010, StopBadware became an independent entity supported by Google, PayPal, Mozilla, and Nominum.

Digital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of America is a project aimed at making a large-scale digital public library accessible to all.

Members
Fellows include or have included John Perry Barlow, John Clippinger, Benjamin Mako Hill, Rebecca MacKinnon, James F. Moore, Doc Searls, Wendy Seltzer, Peter Suber, Jimmy Wales, David Weinberger, Dave Winer, Mayo Fuster Morell and Ethan Zuckerman.

Faculty include Yochai Benkler, William W. Fisher|William "Terry" Fisher, Urs Gasser, Lawrence Lessig, Charles Nesson and Jonathan Zittrain.

The center also has active groups of affiliates and alumni who host and participate in their projects each year.