How old is the Berkman Center?
In 1996, Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson and Jonathan Zittrain established what was then called the “Center on Law and Technology” at Harvard Law School. The Center grew out of a seminar Nesson initiated with Arthur Miller, David Marglin, and Tom Smuts in 1994 on cutting-edge Internet issues. The Center set out “to explore and understand cyberspace, its development, dynamics, norms, standards, and need or lack thereof for laws and sanctions.” A gift of $5.4 million in 1997 from the Berkman family–Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman, and their son Myles–underwrote Nesson’s vision. Professor Lawrence Lessig was awarded the Berkman professorship. The Center on Law and Technology then changed its name to the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, and has been steadily expanding ever since.
