Bowers CIS Distinguished Lecture on Free Expression
The free exchange of ideas underpins everything Cornell does as a university — educating new generations of global citizens, pursuing novel research and scholarship, and advancing the public good. “The Indispensable Condition: Freedom of Expression at Cornell” theme year is designed to advance a shared understanding of the significance, history, and challenges of free expression and academic freedom.
To help foster these important discussions, the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science Distinguished Lecture Series is excited to bring to campus a group of speakers to help continue this important discussion.
Learn more about programming and conversations happening across the university on the Freedom of Expression website.
Dr. Mary Anne Franks
George Washington Law
12/7/2023
12-1 p.m. • Gates G01
Bio: Dr. Mary Anne Franks is the Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights Law at George Washington Law School and the President and Legislative & Tech Policy Director of the nonprofit organization Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. Her areas of expertise include First and Second Amendment law, family law, criminal law, and the intersection of civil rights and technology. She is the author of the award-winning book, The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech (Stanford Press, 2019) and her second book, Fearless Speech (Bold Type Books) is expected in 2024. In 2013, she drafted the first model criminal statute on nonconsensual distribution of intimate images (NDII, sometimes referred to as “revenge porn”) which has served as the template for multiple state laws and for pending federal legislation. She served as the reporter for the Uniform Law Commission’s 2018 Uniform Civil Remedies for the Unauthorized Disclosure of Intimate Images Act and frequently advises state and federal legislators on various forms of technology-facilitated abuse. Dr. Franks also advises several major technology platforms on privacy, free expression, and safety issues. She holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School as well as a doctorate and a master’s degree from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. She is an Affiliate Fellow of the Yale Law School Information Society Project and a member of the District of Columbia bar.
Title: Selling Out Free Speech
Abstract: The prevailing American conception of free speech is reductionist, consumerist, and antidemocratic. While the First Amendment in theory is neutral with regard to the content of the speech it protects, in practice it is invoked most visibly and effectively in the service of powerful antidemocratic interests, including misogyny, racism, and religious zealotry. The fetishization of reckless speech is not contained to the United States, but has rapidly taken hold around the world due to the influence of the Internet and related technologies. No industry has benefited more from the convergence of civil libertarianism and economic libertarianism than the tech industry, which sells the promise of free speech to billions of people around the world in order to surveil, exploit, and manipulate them for profit. In the name of free speech, the tech industry has accelerated and incentivized serious abuses— including “revenge porn,” doxxing, and deepfakes— that inflict life-destroying and irreparable harm on vulnerable communities.
Jeff Kosseff
US Naval Academy
3/13/2024
3:30-4:30 p.m. • Gates Hall – Room TBD
Bio: Jeff Kosseff is an associate professor of cybersecurity law in the United States Naval Academy’s Cyber Science Department. He is the author of four books and more than 20 academic journal articles. He received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and a B.A. and M.P.P. from the University of Michigan.
Title: TBD
Dr. Kate Starbird
University of Washington
4/26/2024
1:30-2:30 p.m. • Gates Hall – Room TBD
Bio: Dr. Kate Starbird is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) and Director of the Emerging Capacities of Mass Participation (emCOMP) Laboratory. She is also adjunct faculty in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering and the Information School, and a data science fellow at the eScience Institute. Her research examines how people use social media to seek, share, and make sense of information after natural disasters (such as earthquakes and hurricanes) and man-made crisis events (such as acts of terrorism and mass shooting events). More recently, her work has shifted to focus on the spread of disinformation in this context.
Title: TBD