John Gorham Palfrey VII (born 1972) is an American educator, scholar, and law professor. His areas of focus include emerging media, Internet freedom, online transparency[ and child safety.][ In March 2019, he was named the president of the
MacArthur Foundation effective September 1, 2019.]
Early life and education
Palfrey graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1990. He attended Harvard College and graduated in 1994, magna cum laude.[ Palfrey was co-captain of Harvard's 1994 undefeated national championship squash team, winning the team's fourth straight national title.][Matt Howitt, March 22, 1994, Harvard Crimson, M. Squash Wins Fourth National Championship, Accessed Sep 122013] He graduated in 1997 from Pembroke College, Cambridge, with an M.Phil. in history.[ While there, he was distinguished as a Rotary Scholar. Palfrey returned to Boston and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2001.][ Harvard Law School profile. Retrieved 2009-11-03.][ His personal blog. Retrieved 2009-11-03.] Palfrey was finance director in Boston for the campaign of Lois Pines for the position of Massachusetts Attorney General.[
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Career
Harvard Law School
Palfrey was executive director of Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.[ He studied Internet usage and attitudes; according to his assessment, an important aspect of the digital revolution was the "massive generation gap" between those who were "born digital"—i.e., after 1980—and those who were not.][ Beginning in 2010, he helped promote a Berkman project entitled the Digital Public Library of America, which is an effort funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and others to enable a large-scale public file-sharing digital library.][ The project began by offering noncopyrighted material but there are efforts to offer copyrighted material in the future with a fee-based arrangement that compensates copyright holders.][ Palfrey was the founding chairman of the Digital Public Library of America when it became a stand-alone entity, working in that role until 2015.][ "StopBadware Researchers Graduate from Harvard," eWeek, Matthew Hines, January 30, 2010 . Retrieved 2010-09-09.]
In 2003, Palfrey was appointed to the faculty of Harvard Law School, partly hired by Elena Kagan,[ He was a visiting professor of Law and Information at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, from 2007 to 2008.][ Palfrey appointed as new head of Harvard Law School Library ][ and led a reorganization effort in 2009.][ Blog post describing the overhaul of the Harvard Law School Library. Retrieved 2010-09-09.] He was appointed to the vice-dean post in 2008.[
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Andover
In 2012, Palfrey became the head of school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.[ He was the fifteenth head of school, and his investiture was celebrated on September 26, 2012.][September 12, 2014, Staff report, The Philippian, Palfrey Unanimously Elected Chair of Knight Foundation, Retrieved March 29, 2015, "... Palfrey was unanimously elected Chair ... a charitable foundation dedicated to funding innovation in how information improves democratic institutions ..."] He was profiled in Town and Country magazine in 2015.[Town and Country magazine, How John Palfrey Is Bringing America's Most Elite Boarding School Into the Digital Age: For centuries Andover was considered the ne plus ultra of elitist, insular boarding schools. Now, with a young iconoclast at the helm, it has become an institution that would shock its 18th-century founders, Retrieved July 14, 2015, "... Puritan named Peter Palfrey arrived from England ... and became a founder of Salem ... family tree includes a signer of the U.S. Constitution, the founding dean of Harvard Divinity School, and great-great-grandfather Theodore Roosevelt. ... "] During his tenure at Phillips Academy, the school was the only one of its kind to maintain need blind admissions and reached a high of 86 per cent admissions yield, setting records both for applications and yield.
Palfrey was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.[American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member Directory, 2021, John G. Palfrey, Retrieved May 30, 2021, "...John G. Palfrey, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, AREA: Public Affairs, Business, and Administration, SPECIALTY: Scientific, Cultural, and Nonprofit Leadership, MEMBER SINCE: 2021..."]
Internet issues
Palfrey is regarded as an authority about how people use technology, including how they relate to information and engage in politics in emerging digital media such as the Internet.[ "The Decoder," Greg Hanscom, Urbanite Magazine, September 1, 2010 . Retrieved 2010-09-09.][ "Kids These Days," Editorial, Urbanite Magazine, September 1, 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-09.] According to Palfrey, digital natives (those born after 1980 and who grew up with the Internet) are more likely to "see relationships differently" as well as access information in new ways from previous generations.
In 2008, Palfrey was the chair of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, a year-long national effort to explore how children could "avoid unwanted contact and content" online.[ CNET article regarding the Internet Safety Technical Task Force. Retrieved 2010-09-09.][ "Report Finds Online Threats to Children Overblown," Brad Stone, "New York Times," January 13, 2009. Retrieved 2010-09-09.][ Final Report of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force. Retrieved 2010-09-09.] He believes digital literacy should be an important public issue in schools so that kids can "sort credible from non-credible information".[ House Judiciary Committee web site . Retrieved 2010-09-09.] He advocated flexibility in legal solutions for coping with cyberbullying, which happens when "kids treat one another awfully online",[ and he recommended that laws not be too tied to specific technologies.]
In his book Born Digital, Palfrey and co-author Urs Gasser argued that solutions to bad behavior online could combine parental oversight, public education, responsible behavior by corporations, and only use punitive laws as a last resort.[ Project Information Literacy at the University of Washington . Retrieved 2009-09-09.] The book was reviewed in the journal Science[Science April 17, 2009: Vol. 324. no. 5925, p. 338, ] and the Washington Post.[ Reviewer Amanda Henry described the authors as "knowledgeable but never pedantic".][ Library Journal named Born Digital one of its top Science and Technology books for 2008, the only computer science book named to this list.][ Article relating the Library Journal mention in its top science and technology books of 2008. Retrieved 2010-09-09.][ "Best Sci-Tech Books of 2008," Library Journal, March 1, 2009 . Retrieved 2010-09-09.] According to one account, Palfrey urged his fellow Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig to run for Congress.[ A blog post from Palfrey expressing his interest into encouraging Lessig to run for congress. Retrieved 2009-11-03.] Palfrey was a member of a pro bono legal team that helped defend street artist Shepard Fairey in a "fair use" case involving an Associated Press photograph of Barack Obama in his Hope poster.[ "Judge Rules Shepard Fairey Can Switch Lawyers in AP Case," Los Angeles Times, November 10, 2009. Retrieved 2011-11-16.]
Palfrey urged Congress to write legislation to discourage prominent Internet firms such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Cisco Systems from bending to pressure by foreign governments to censor web information or forcing them to reveal the identities of dissidents,[ as part of the Open Net Initiative.][ Web site of the OpenNet Initiative, listing the principal investigators. Retrieved 2010-09-09.][ Article in Forbes citing Palfrey's work on the OpenNet Initiative and related cybersecurity issues. Retrieved 2010-09-09.] His work on how Internet usage can affect politics within democracies was cited as influential to the dissidents in Iran responsible for the Green Revolution. These references resulted in his being named by the Iranian government, along with colleague Ethan Zuckerman, as a so-called "conspirator" in the trials that took place in Iran in 2009 and 2010.[ "Iran dissidents draw ideas from US visionaries," Farah Stockman, The Boston Globe, December 20, 2009. Retrieved 2010-09-09.] Palfrey commented in the Boston Globe about how political campaigns in the United States were increasingly being carried out in cyberspace.
In 2023, Palfrey highlights the challenges of defining derivative works in copyright law, particularly with AI's evolving role. He suggests that the legal interpretation may become more complex as AI advances. Palfrey also emphasizes the need to reevaluate Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to address AI-driven deception. He advocates for a more comprehensive regulatory approach in line with international models.
BiblioTECH: Libraries and Democracy
Palfrey emphasizes that while for-profit information sources like Google and Amazon are prevalent, they serve a different purpose—primarily profit rather than public access to knowledge.
In his book, BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever In An Age of Google,
Family
Palfrey's parents are both professors of medicine with a specialty in pediatrics. His mother, Judith Palfrey, was the chief of general pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital and is a professor emeritus of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.[ His father, Sean Palfrey, is a professor emeritus of clinical pediatrics at Boston University Medical School.][ Palfrey's parents were faculty deans of Adams House at Harvard College.][ Judith and Sean Palfrey's Harvard profiles . Retrieved 2012-07-09.] Palfrey is a great-great-grandson of United States President Theodore Roosevelt.[Potier, Beth, FDR slept here: Adams House triple boasts impressive history" ,
Harvard Gazette, November 21, 2002. Retrieved 2010-09-09.] His family has many connections to Harvard University, including through his ancestor, John G. Palfrey, the first dean of the Harvard Divinity School and prominent historian of the 19th century.[Resnick, Scott A., "Judith and Sean Palfrey Appointed Adams House Masters", Harvard Crimson, April 05, 1999. Retrieved 2010-09-09.] Palfrey married Catherine Carter in 1998.
Palfrey's father was born John Gorham Palfrey, III, and is a 1967 graduate of Harvard, as is his mother, born Judith Swann Sullivan. His father is also considered John Gorham Palfrey, IV or John Palfrey, VI. He had a younger brother who didn't live for a day (December 5, 1946) and a younger sister, Antonia Ford Palfrey, named for their 3rd great-grandmother, Antonia (née Ford) Willard.
John's 2nd great-grandfather, John Carver Palfrey (1833–1906), fought in the United States Civil War, as did his 3rd great-uncle, Francis Winthrop Palfrey (1831–1889). His great-grandfather, John Gorham Palfrey II (1875–1945) was an 1896 graduate of Harvard and a lawyer in Boston. His grandfather, John Gorham Palfrey, Jr. or the III (1919–1979), was a 1940 graduate of Harvard, served in World War II, was appointed to the Atomic Energy Commission by President John F. Kennedy, and was a professor at Columbia University from 1952 until his death in 1979, concurrently dean of Columbia College from 1958 to 1962.
His grandmother was Belle Wyatt "Clochette"
Publications
See also
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Digital native
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Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University
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StopBadware.org
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Digital Public Library of America
External links
