Technology and the Public Interest
Books, essays, and commentary from John Palfrey
Essays
Notes from AI Action Summit in Delhi, India, February 2026
Reflections on AI, governance, and the public interest from the AI Action Summit in Delhi.
Read essayConcord Free Public Library 150th Anniversary Celebration
Remarks on libraries, civic institutions, and the enduring importance of public knowledge.
Read essayInvesting in the Arts—in Chicago and Beyond
Thoughts on philanthropy, culture, and why investing in the arts matters for public life.
Read essayCommentary from John Palfrey
-
At The School at Columbia Today
I’m with a group of 20 wonderful educators talking about technology in the classroom at a NYSAIS workshop. It’s taking place at The School at Columbia University, a totally beautiful, wired school built three years ago. We’re looking now at the debates on a wiki format right now. We’re talking also about what tags are.…
-
Welcome, Planet02138
Welcome to a new aggregator, Planet02138, that Renat Lumpau has set up. The purpose is: “Planet 02138 is a collection of Harvard blogs. It is a sample of opinions and ramblings by Harvard students, faculty, and alumni.” Great idea.
-
Launch of LegalForce, Creation of Markets for IP
I got word today of the launch of a new service called LegalForce. They’re creating an online marketplace for patents. They’ve also got something of a community-building idea for stakeholders in the patenting system, it appears. It ‘s a seed-funded company out of Palo Alto. They welcome inquiries from academics who wish to do research…
-
Jim Moore's chapters 14 and 15, on a CC for Patents
Jim Moore says “we need a true Creative Commons for patents.” Two substantial posts on patent reform, Microsoft, IBM, and power relationships.
-
Debating the Internet's Impact on Democracy around the World
Students in the HLS course Internet, Law and Politics are staging a debate today. The two sides of the argument are posted to the course wiki. The overall debate page is here, including today’s resolution: “Resolved: The Internet enables citizens to have a greater voice in politics and is, on balance, already a tremendous force…
-
Digital Natives in Montreal
Today, I’m in Montreal for La Boule de Cristal, talking about Digital Natives and Digital Identity — or, apparently, La gestion des identites, en francais. It’s quite a venue and a huge event, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and lots of Montreal-based researchers and entrepreneurs.
-
Pushing Back on Internet's Impact on Politics
Today, in Internet, Law, and Politics at Harvard Law School, we’re taking up some counter-arguments to the strong form of the argument that Internet can transform politics. I’m building a short outline of some of the key concerns, here, as I prepare for class. It occurs to me to point out that there’s a wonderful…
-
EFF Wants Your Viacom Stories, Too
Fred von Lohmann has a post and a video request for your stories of Viacom take-downs.
-
Another Video for the Put-Back-Up List?
As with Jim Moore’s video — now famous thanks to Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing — you can decide for yourself whether Viacom’s cease-and-desist letter should have resulted in Jaegercat’s video being taken down at YouTube. In an e-mail from .sg, (which she said I could republish), Jaegercat writes: “My video ‘Beat Police’, an original…
-
A Voice from Outside the US on the Viacom-YouTube Matter
“Jaegercat” writes in a discussion board on this topic: “I don’t live in the US. I’ve already responded with the counter-notification via fax, but I have no idea how to proceed from here if they don’t respond. The video that they pulled was an original work that took me around 5 months to make, that…
-
Yale ISP's Open Standards Conference
I’m with our friends at the Yale Information Society Project today for a fine conference called the Open Standards International Symposium. Eddan Katz and company have assembled a group from many of the places around the world where this issue is raging, along with representatives of many of the key industry players and stakeholders, like…