
Jennifer Granick is the Director of Civil Liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. Jennifer returns to Stanford after stints as General Counsel of entertainment company Worldstar Hip Hop and as counsel with the internet boutique firm of Zwillgen PLLC. Before that, she was the Civil Liberties Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Jennifer practices, speaks and writes about computer crime and security, electronic surveillance, consumer privacy, data protection, copyright, trademark and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. From 2001 to 2007, Jennifer was Executive Director of CIS and taught Cyberlaw, Computer Crime Law, Internet intermediary liability, and Internet law and policy. Before teaching at Stanford, Jennifer spent almost a decade practicing criminal defense law in California. She was selected by Information Security magazine in 2003 as one of 20 "Women of Vision" in the computer security field. She earned her law degree from University of California, Hastings College of the Law and her undergraduate degree from the New College of the University of South Florida.
High Res Photo of Jennifer Granick
Why Breach of Contract Should Never Be A Crime
By Jennifer Granick • February 15, 2013 at 3:17 pm
In the face of efforts to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), some buinesses have told lawmakers that the CFAA should be used to punish breach of contract where the breacher acted "for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain". Such a proposal does not fix the ability of prosecutors to go after people for disregarding terms of service.
Worse, the idea is unprecedented, dangerous and unacceptable. Read more » about Why Breach of Contract Should Never Be A Crime
Have You Committed the Crime of Outsmarting?
By Jennifer Granick • January 29, 2013 at 4:05 pm
The Hacker Manifesto lauds the world of the electron and the switch, where the talented are treated equally and the values of curiosity and exploration reign supreme. Yet studying computers, network security, and programming flaws can be a crime or civil offense. Just two examples: In Sony v. Hotz (2011), a case that eventually settled, Sony claimed that researchers who studied the way their own game consoles worked violated the CFAA. Read more » about Have You Committed the Crime of Outsmarting?
Thoughts on Orin Kerr's CFAA Reform Proposals: A Great Second Step
By Jennifer Granick • January 23, 2013 at 9:43 pm
Law professor and cybercrime expert Orin Kerr published a proposal to amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to address the overcriminalization that he has been at the forefront of identifying and combatting. His current proposal, which very simply but comprehensively addresses a number of problems with the CFAA, is here.
By focusing purely on whether the service operator implements technological access barriers, the proposal risks a similar problem to the one that the current statute has, giving server owners plenary authority to criminalize the way members of the public interact with information made available online, but through “technological access barriers” rather than merely terms of service and employee agreements. Read more » about Thoughts on Orin Kerr's CFAA Reform Proposals: A Great Second Step
Thoughts on Zoe Lofgren's CFAA Bill: A Great First Step
By Jennifer Granick • January 16, 2013 at 3:41 pm
Yesterday, Representative Zoe Lofgren introduced on Reddit a bill to improve the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the wake of Aaron Swartz's suicide during the pendency of his prosecution for violating various provisions of that law and of the Wire Fraud Act. I've attached Read more » about Thoughts on Zoe Lofgren's CFAA Bill: A Great First Step
Towards Learning from Losing Aaron Swartz: Part 2
By Jennifer Granick • January 15, 2013 at 3:54 pm
Below is part 2 of the post Towards Learning from Losing Aaron Swartz. Read more » about Towards Learning from Losing Aaron Swartz: Part 2
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Shloss v. Estate of Joyce
After the Estate of James Joyce refused to allow a scholar to quote Joyce in her book, we successfully defended her right under the fair use doctrine to use the quotes she needed to illustrate her scholarship. After we prevailed in the case, the Estate paid $240,000 of our client’s legal fees. Read more » about Shloss v. Estate of Joyce
Kahle v. Gonzales
In this case, two archives challenged statutes that extended copyright terms unconditionally—the Copyright Renewal Act and the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA)—as unconstitutional under Copyright Clause and the First Amendment. Read more » about Kahle v. Gonzales
Towards learning from losing Aaron Swartz
Al Jazeera republished Jennifer Granick's two part blog postTowards learning from losing Aaron Swartz. Read more » about Towards learning from losing Aaron Swartz
Organized Labor Can Protect Workers by Supporting 'Aaron's Law'
Right now, a battle is underway to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a statute that can transform innocuous workplace behavior into a federal crime, simply because a computer is involved. The CFAA is a bludgeon that Big Business and the Department of Justice have willingly used against the American worker, and its time for that to stop. Read more » about Organized Labor Can Protect Workers by Supporting 'Aaron's Law'
Megaupload Indictment Leaves Everyone Guessing - Part 2
Daily/Journal Op/Ed
The first part of this article outlined the mechanics of the Megaupload website, and the novel questions of criminal inducement on which the government's indictment is premised. Here, we explore two more extensions of existing law on which the indictment is based, and the impact this prosecution is likely to have on Internet innovators and users alike. Read more » about Megaupload Indictment Leaves Everyone Guessing - Part 2
Megaupload.com Indictment Leaves Everyone Guessing - Part 1
Days after anti-piracy legislation stalled in Congress, the U.S. Department of Justice coordinated an unprecedented raid on the Hong Kong-based website Megaupload.com. New Zealand law enforcement agents swooped in by helicopter to arrest founder Kim Dotcom at his home outside of Auckland, and seized millions of dollars worth of art, vehicles and real estate. Six other Megaupload employees were also arrested. Meanwhile, the Justice Department seized Megaupload's domain names and the data of at least 50 million users worldwide. Read more » about Megaupload.com Indictment Leaves Everyone Guessing - Part 1
Shloss v. Estate of Joyce - Amended Complaint
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Taking a Flier on Big Data
"However, the level of precision that satisfies marketers is very different from the exactitude required by government agencies, says Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society. " Read more » about Taking a Flier on Big Data
Scripps Employees Called 'Hackers' For Exposing Massive Security Flaw
""There's this idea that you can access information, but if you access it fast then you're a criminal," Granick said. "If anything, these are very subjective calculations that shouldn't be the basis for whether someone goes to prison."" Read more » about Scripps Employees Called 'Hackers' For Exposing Massive Security Flaw
As cyberthreats mount, hacker’s conviction underscores criticism of government overreach
"Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society, said prosecutors have been guilty of “overreach” in their handling of computer cases such as those of Auernheimer and Swartz." Read more » about As cyberthreats mount, hacker’s conviction underscores criticism of government overreach
Constitution USA with Peter Sagal
CIS Director of Civil Liberties Jennifer Granick is interviewed in the PBS Show Constitution USA with Peter Sagal. Read more » about Constitution USA with Peter Sagal
Amid Calls for Reform, a Rare Trial of Hacking Law
""Because the language is vague and the way we've used computers has changed so much, there has been a great amount of litigation and dispute about what unauthorized access means," Granick said. "Some litigants have pushed the idea your access is unauthorized if you're violating an employment contract, or violating terms of a service agreement, or acting in a manner that is disloyal."" Read more » about Amid Calls for Reform, a Rare Trial of Hacking Law
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2013 Stanford University-Peking University Internet Law and Public Policy Conference (Past Event)
This Conference is cordially hosted by Stanford Law School and Peking University, and is sponsored by Tencent, China’s largest Internet company and one of the largest worldwide, and Microsoft, the largest software maker in the world. The main organizers include the China Guiding Cases Project, the Stanford Program in Law, Science, & Technology, the China Law and Policy Association, and the Stanford Law School Programs. Read more » about 2013 Stanford University-Peking University Internet Law and Public Policy Conference
3D Printing: Is the Law Ready for the Future? (Past Event)
Third Annual Internet Law Works-in-Progress Event (Past Event)
Jennifer Granick will be presenting her paper Principles for Regulation of Government Surveillance in the Age of Big Data.
For more information visit: http://law.scu.edu/hightech/2013-internet-law-wip.cfm Read more » about Third Annual Internet Law Works-in-Progress Event
Innovation or Exploitation? (Past Event)
Have you ever borrowed a smartphone without asking? Modified a URL? Scraped a website? Called an undocumented API? Congratulations: you might have violated federal law! A 1986 statute, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), provides both civil and criminal remedies for mere "unauthorized" access to a computer. Read more » about Innovation or Exploitation?
Swimming in the Ocean of Big Data: National Security in an Age of Unlimited Information (Past Event)
The Journal of National Security Law & Policy and The Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law proudly present "Swimming in the Ocean of Big Data: National Security in an Age of Unlimited Information". Read more » about Swimming in the Ocean of Big Data: National Security in an Age of Unlimited Information
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Hardware Hacking and the Law
June 29, 2010
Presentation at Defcon 18 by CIS Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick and EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman Read more » about Hardware Hacking and the Law