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
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Digital Public Library of America, Session 1 Notes
Here’s my rough live-blog (while moderating; please excuse briefness) of the key points and problems from session 1 of the Digital Public Library of America working meeting on “Scope and Content” of a possible DPLA, today at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge, MA: 1) We began with a voice from public libraries and one…
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Fifth Conference on Law and Mind Sciences
In studying the practices of young people with respect to information and technology, one of the themes that comes up all the time is whether or not “their brains are being rewired” as they use new media. Conversations about how kids interact with one another through social media often turn to questions of whether or…
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Collective Management of Copyright: Solution or Sacrifice?
The Kernochan Center at Columbia University Law School is hosting its annual symposium today in NYC on the timely issue of collective management of copyright. Non-IP lawyers may be scratching their heads after reading that sentence. What, after all, is collective management of copyright? Daniel Gervais, the opening keynote speaker, starts the conference by answering…
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Shepard Fairey and AP Settle Copyright Suit
The artist Shepard Fairey and the Associated Press announced today that they have reached a settlement in their dispute over copyright issues related to the Obama “Hope” poster created during the 2008 presidential campaign cycle. The AP has also issued its own press release about the settlement. (Disclosure: Along with my HLS colleague, Prof. Terry…
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DDoS Report, in the Wake of Wikileaks, Cablegate, and Anonymous
The Wikileaks/Cablegate story has long-term implications for global society on very many levels. (See JZ’s excellent FAQ on Wikileaks, co-developed with Molly Sauter.) One is our shared understanding of the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack phenomenon. The incidence of DDoS has been growing in recent years. It links up to important threads to emerge…
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Noah Feldman, Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices
I have had the great pleasure this evening of introducing Prof. Noah Feldman on the occasion of his talk on his new book, Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices (Twelve, 2010). Noah’s interlocutor: our great friend Christopher Lydon, former Berkman Center fellow and journalist who has led the way in…
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Henry N. Ess III Chair Lecture Notes
I’m preparing for a lecture tonight at Harvard Law School. Here’s the abstract: The Path of Legal Information November 9, 2010 I propose a path toward a new legal information environment that is predominantly digital in nature. This new era grows out of a long history of growth and change in the publishing of legal…
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A Citizens' Choice Framework for Net Neutrality
I’ve just submitted a comment to the FCC with respect to a proposal for a compromise solution on network neutrality. I’m very grateful to the many friends who provided constructive criticism during the drafting and refinement of the ideas. Here’s the text: * * * Mr. Chairman and Members of the Commission: Thank you for…
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Born Digital: The Video Version
One of the ideas that Urs Gasser and I had from the start of the Born Digital book project was to find a way to co-produce the ideas behind the book. The concept was to celebrate, in a graphic way, the creativity and ability of young people. We worked closely with dozens of student interns…
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Laptop and Filtering Policies for Classrooms
I had the pleasure of teaching in the Research Symposium for Spanish and Latin American Academics, held at Harvard University this August. As part of a three-hour session on learning with technologies, I assigned an exercise in which groups of teachers (mostly at the university level; a few teaching younger students) had to work together…
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Guest Blog Post: Lawrence Lessig
John, As you know, my blog is in hibernation. Would you mind posting the following response to Andy Orlowski’s latest for the record? I hadn’t thought any response would be necessary, but the ordinarily sensible (even if I disagree with its politics) Capitol Confidential seems to have been misled by Orlowski’s piece. Perhaps there are…