Berkman Center For Internet & Society - History and Mission

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.