Disclosure 1.0

Following the practice of my colleagues David Weinberger, Larry Lessig, Terry Fisher, and John Palfrey, I offer the following disclosure statement about my work.  I’m in compliance with my employer Harvard Law School’s disclosure and conflict of interest policies, and will remain so.

Some more details:

I teach cyberlaw at Harvard University.  I hold tenure here, which means that I can’t be fired on account of the views I hold or express.  I write and speak on a range of topics I care about, and when I do, I represent no one except myself.

My primary salary is paid by Harvard University.  It does not vary or depend upon any outside income, and I am not required to raise research funds.  I do not benefit personally from any additional funds given to Harvard or its affiliates.

I sometimes collect royalties from the sale of my books or a particular article or op-ed.  Wherever possible (e.g. where not bound by a publishing agreement forged before these things were effectively negotiable) I also make available nearly everything I write online for free under a Creative Commons license.  For example, The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It is downloadable in multiple formats here at http://www.futureoftheinternet.org/download.  (You can also download the Kindle edition for $9.99; go figure.)

I sometimes earn speaking fees and/or travel expenses for moderating or keynoting at an event; I am represented primarily by Monitor for that.  When I am paid to speak, I will contract as to subject matter (e.g., whether the speech is about cyberwar, or copyright, or privacy, etc.), but not as to substance, and owe no duty of loyalty of the sort an attorney owes a client.  I generally ask for such talks to be made available for free online. I maintain a list of talks and other engagements at http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/COI/2012_Zittrain_Jonathan.html.  I have also from time to time served as an expert witness.

I hold three patents, none of which I’ve commercialized.

I don’t play the stock market, though I do have retirement funds invested by an independent advisor, and I do not generally consult with him about his activities. On a few occasions (detailed in the disclosure form linked above) I’ve been asked by friends or former students to serve on advisory boards for their ventures, and sometimes have been given stock or options for the advice. Where required by policy or simply advisable as a matter of common sense to contextualize my opinions, I also disclose such relationships inline with the expression of my views.

I have informally and formally advised several U.S. federal agencies, including the FCC (I was Distinguished Visiting Scholar and currently chair its Open Internet Advisory Committee) and the CIA, and more formally am a member of the U.S. National Security Agency Advisory Board.  Some of the information I’ve been given is classified, and I have agreed (and am bound by law) not to disclose it without authorization.

I’m a former member of the board of trustees of ISOC, a current member of the board of directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and a Justice of the Peace in Massachusetts.

I am a co-founder and a director of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.  The Berkman Center discloses its policies and sources of funding at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/about/support.  My colleague John Palfrey has some more details on his blog.