The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.
Exciting things are Happening at Stanford CIS!
We wanted to let you know about some of the exciting things happening at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. For one thing, we are growing! For another, our directors are engaged in hottest topics facing technology and law today, publishing significant articles that move policy, providing key support for legislative proposals to protect Internet users, and offering insights in major media outlets on important issues from free speech to surveillance to net neutrality. Take a look below at who we are and what we are doing.
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Magistrate Judge Stephen Wm. Smith has joined CIS as Director of Fourth Amendment & Open Courts. He served as a federal magistrate judge in Houston, Texas, from 2004 to 2018, where he authored several important opinions of first impression on electronic surveillance. Judge Smith was one of the leaders of the so-called “Magistrates’ Revolt” against overbroad and under-justified electronic searches by prosecutors. In 2005 he wrote one of the first opinions requiring a warrant for cell phone tracking, a position that the Supreme Court recently adopted in its landmark Fourth Amendment case, Carpenter v. U.S. In 2013 he wrote the first opinion on the FBI’s authority to remotely hack a computer --- a decision that led directly to a revision of the federal rules of criminal procedure governing remote access searches. |
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Net Neutrality Victory in California Barbara van Schewick is the director of CIS and Professor of Law and Helen L. Crocker Faculty Scholar at Stanford Law School. She is a leading expert on net neutrality and her tireless efforts were instrumental in passage of California’s net neutrality law. Professor van Schewick helped author several versions of the bill, served as a technical expert for Sen. Scott Wiener, and testified at every hearing of the bill in the California legislature. SB 822 is considered to be the gold standard of state-level net neutrality laws as it restores all of the protections of the 2015 Open Internet Order, by carefully including the protections included in the 300-page Order. Passage of California’s law, the toughest in the nation, “was a landmark in the fight to preserve a free and open internet.” Here’s her analysis of the passage of the bill. |
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The Summer of Hate Speech is Turning into a Winter of Censorship Daphne Keller has become an important voice in the debate over platforms and online speech. She has published several well-received New York Times op eds on topics like the “Right to Be Forgotten” and governments outsourcing censorship to Internet companies. This year she testified to the EU Parliament; filed formal comments and met with lawmakers about pending legislation in Europe and the Americas; published new work on platforms and online extremism; and joined a First Amendment challenge to America’s latest and worst intermediary liability law, FOSTA-SESTA, representing clients including the Internet Archive and Human Rights Watch. |
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CIS’ New Director of Consumer Privacy Dr. Jennifer King joined CIS in April as the Director of Consumer Privacy. An information scientist by training, Dr. King is a recognized expert and scholar in information privacy. She examines the public’s understanding and expectations of online privacy and the policy implications of emerging technologies. Her research sits at the intersection of human-computer interaction, law, and the social sciences. Dr. King’s current research areas include genetic privacy, the Internet of Things (IoT), improving notice, consent and privacy policies, and the impact of power dynamics on privacy and personal disclosure. |
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Teaching Privacy Al Gidari is the Consulting Director of Privacy at CIS and teaches the Stanford Law School’s Information Privacy Law course. He is frequently quoted on privacy issues and electronic surveillance. He hosted the Chief Privacy Officers luncheon series at SLS this year. |
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New Associate Director Riana Pfefferkorn started at CIS as its first Cryptography Fellow. Her 2018 whitepapers on the risks of so-called “responsible encryption” and the security risks of government hacking made significant contributions to the ongoing debate about government access to our communications and electronic devices in an age of ubiquitous encryption. |
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More Net Neutrality Ryan Singel is a Media and Strategy Fellow at CIS. He works closely with Professor van Schewick on net neutrality. He is frequently quoted in media coverage of net neutrality, and works closely with reporters to ensure they understand the nuances of net neutrality. In October, he released a report on unique comments to the 2017 FCC net neutrality repeal proceedings. That report broke out comments by Congressional district and state to help policy makers, journalists and academics better understand public support for net neutrality. |
