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Events

Explore our upcoming events, find video and audio from our past events, and subscribe to stay updated on all of our talks, panels, and live webcasts.

Welcome to the Berkman Klein Center’s events. These get-togethers are all about having great conversations and making new connections in a friendly and inclusive space. We believe everyone has something interesting to say. Please bring your ideas, experiences, and unique perspectives. Feel free to critique ideas and speak from your own experience, all in the spirit of lively and respectful discourse.

Thanks for helping us create a great community atmosphere!

Our hybrid and virtual events are hosted on Zoom with closed-captioning. Questions can be submitted to the moderator, who will highlight popular and emerging themes and relay them to the speakers. Please note that translation services are currently unavailable.

Public event recordings will be available one week after the event. You can find them on the event page or BKC’s YouTube channel. For the latest updates, follow BKC on X or LinkedIn.

Respiratory illnesses like flu, COVID-19, and RSV affect millions annually. Protect yourself and others by wearing a high-quality face mask in crowded indoor settings and staying home if you're unwell.

Harvard University and the Berkman Klein Center welcome individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact our Event Specialist at [email protected] in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for American Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance, if possible. Please note that the University will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.

For further questions about accessibility on Harvard's campus, we invite visitors to check out Harvard University Disability Resources page and the Digital Accessibility page.

For in-person attendees, below is a list of resources regarding parking and accessibility at HLS. Harvard is a tough area to find parking, but we do have a number of options around Lewis.

For those with accessibility needs who have handicap parking permits:

  1. Private HLS parking is available at 10 Everett St Garage (the garage recommended for events) for a moderate fee. Passes must be purchased in advance and printed ahead of time. For more info on Accessible Parking at HLS click here.
  2. Public handicap spots are spread out throughout Cambridge. Click here for a guide to public Cambridge parking, and click for campus interactive accessibility maps. The closest spots within reasonable walking distance and NO major roadways to cross are located at 2 Kirkland St, 23 Everett St, and 12 Oxford St. All 3 locations are located within 1 block of Lewis. Please note, so long as the driver has a legal handicap permit, they can park at any public, paid metered spot, or "Residents Only" spot in Cambridge, but MUST have their permit displayed at all times in their car window. If the permit is not visible, they will be ticketed and/or towed. They do NOT need to park in a handicap spot so long as their permit is visible.
  3. The most accessible streets to park on (meaning no major roadways to cross and within reasonable distance of Lewis) are Everett St, Oxford St, and Kirkland St.

For those not using handicap parking permits:

  1. Private HLS parking is available at 10 Everett St Garage, 52 Oxford St Garage, and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. These are the 3 privately owned Harvard garages recommended. Click here for daily permit purchasing information, which must be done ahead of the event. A day rate is $25. Click here for Harvard’s Parking Map.
  2. Public, metered parking spots are available. They range in maximum parking time limit from 2-4 hours for $1.50-$2.00/hour. Please note, if you pay using the mobile Passport Parking app, you will NOT be able to renew your session once it ends. You will have to feed the meter using coins as the app will not permit you to surpass the maximum parking limit. (continued below).
  3. Car-pooling and public transportation are great ways to save money and time. These methods of transportation are highly recommended to those who can do so! 

The Berkman Klein Center is located on the 4th and 5th floors of the Lewis Law Center. The street address is 1557 Massachusetts Avenue. Most events occur in the 5th floor multipurpose room. The Center is wheelchair-accessible and includes accessible restrooms. The building is key card access only. For public events, staff will be stationed at the door to allow entry.

If an event is being catered, it will be noted in the event description and you will be prompted to indicate your dietary preferences on the RSVP form. Food is always offered on a first come, first served basis. The more we know, the better we can prepare, so please always RSVP. If you were unable to RSVP, please still come but consider not taking a meal unless there is an abundance.

Using a variety of local caterers, BKC does its best to provide an assortment of clearly labeled dietary options at all catered events. We usually have vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options available.

For all event related needs or concerns, please contact someone on our Events Team at [email protected] or call our Event Specialist at 617-384-0596. Thank you.

Past Events

Mar 15, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Back to the Drawing Board: Student Privacy in Massachusetts K-12 Schools

with Jessie Rossman and Kade Crockford of the ACLU of Massachusetts

Technology moves much faster than the law. Here in Massachusetts, that’s left a gap between what kinds of technologies schools use to manage student information and in classrooms,…

Mar 10, 2016 @ 5:30 PM

Deterrence and Arms Control in Cyberspace

with National Intelligence Officer for Cyber Issues, Sean Kanuck

This discussion with the National Intelligence Officer for Cyber Issues will begin by highlighting the technology trends that are having a transformational change on cyber…

Mar 4, 2016 @ 9:00 AM

Conectados al Sur - Breakfast of Ideas

Latino STEM Alliance Boston

The Breakfast of Ideas event seeks to gather both people from Latin American and individuals who have a sincere interest in Latin American affairs revolving around issues of…

Mar 1, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

The Big Reverse of the Web: Are Our Policies and Standards Ready?

with Open Source developer, Dries Buytaert

Artificially intelligent personal assistants and algorithms are just the first signs of a web that's designed to deliver the highly personalized information to us at the right…

Feb 23, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Developing Effective Citizen Responses to Discrimination and Harassment Online

with Berkman Fellow, Nathan Matias

MIT PhD candidate Nathan Matias shares four years of research and design interventions aimed at expanding the power of citizens to understand and develop effective responses to…

Feb 19, 2016 @ 9:00 AM

Conectados al Sur - Breakfast of Ideas

Science Clubs Colombia Project (Clubes de Ciencia)

The Breakfast of Ideas event seeks to gather both people from Latin American and individuals who have a sincere interest in Latin American affairs revolving around issues of…

Feb 16, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Security and Privacy in the World-Sized Web

with Berkman Fellow, Bruce Schneier

We've created a world where technology permeates our economies, social interactions, and intimate selves. Yet these systems demand continuous access to us and our information, and…

Feb 2, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Engineering open production efficiency at scale

with computer scientist, Aaron Halfaker

Mixing systems thinking, advanced computation, and feminist theory to design for better open production communities.

Jan 26, 2016 @ 12:00 PM

Civic Technology and Community Science: building a model for public participation in environmental decision-making processes

with Berkman Fellow, Shannon Dosemagen

Building on civic technology and grassroots community science methods, we’ll examine how open, online communities can support the goals of local groups as they engage with…

Jan 12, 2016 @ 12:30 PM

Haiti, Machine Learning, and Ankle Holsters: Reflections on the U.S. Treasury Department in the Late 1990s

with California Supreme Court Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar

Come hear California Supreme Court Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar reflect on his years working at Treasury in the late 1990s and discuss enduring dilemmas in governance, law,…

Dec 15, 2015 @ 12:00 PM

Techno-Vernacular Creativity and STEAM

with Dr. Nettrice Gaskins, STEAM Lab Director at Boston Arts Academy

Tuesday, December 15, 2015, at 12:00 pm Harvard Law School Campus Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East C  Dr. Gaskins discusses her model for ‘techno-vernacular’ creative…

Event
Dec 8, 2015 @ 12:00 PM

State of Student Privacy

with Urs Gasser, Sandra Cortesi, Dalia Topelson Ritvo, Paulina Haduong, and Leah Plunkett

The Berkman Center’s Student Privacy Initiative will be taking stock of our student privacy work to date and exploring future directions. At this luncheon, the Berkman team will…

Dec 4, 2015 @ 3:00 PM

Privacy & Europe:
 Debating the "Right to be Forgotten,” Trans-Atlantic Data Flows, and the World's Toughest New Privacy Laws

with Google’s Global Privacy Counsel, Peter Fleischer

Privacy & Europe:
 Debating the "Right to be Forgotten,” Trans-Atlantic Data Flows, and the World's Toughest New Privacy Laws

Nov 24, 2015 @ 12:00 PM

Privacy in a world of IoT, self driving cars, and a climate crisis

with Robin Chase

Robin Chase will lay out a near term future where communications and software platforms will deliver us smart cities, smart homes, and ubiquitous clean low cost shared transport.

Event
Nov 10, 2015 @ 12:00 PM

Bridging the gap between computer science and legal approaches to privacy

with Kobbi Nissim and Alexandra Wood

Can lawyers and computer scientists bridge their very different notions of privacy?

Nov 3, 2015 @ 12:00 PM

Re-assembling the Assembly Line: Digital Labor Economies and Demands for an Ambient Workforce

with Berkman Fellow, Mary L. Gray

Tuesday, November 3, 2015, at 12:00 pm Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University Harvard Law School Campus, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East C   …

Oct 27, 2015 @ 12:00 PM

The Internet of Garbage

with Sarah Jeong

What do we do about online harassment? Sarah Jeong talks about the lessons we can learn from anti-spam technology and copyright law, and how to think beyond deletion and legal…

Oct 20, 2015 @ 12:00 PM

Property law and the blockchain

with Berkman Fellow, Patrick Murck

In this talk we will explore the first area of interest and try to unpack the basic property interests one can have in a bitcoin.

Oct 13, 2015 @ 12:00 PM

"Kill all DRM in the world forever, within a decade" Cory Doctorow

Join science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger, Cory Doctorow in discussion with Jonathan Zittrain

Cory Doctorow joins Jonathan Zittrain in discussion about the work he's doing with EFF to kill all DRM in the world forever, within a decade!

Oct 8, 2015 @ 2:00 PM

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

at Harvard Law School

On October 8, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will be holding oral arguments at Harvard Law School, in the Ames Courtroom in Austin Hall. The…