Disclosures
I’m posting this disclosure to set forth the things that I think readers of this site ought to know about some of my biases and about things that I will and won’t do on this site with respect to these biases.
No one pays me to write this blog, nor will I agree to blog anything here for payment.
Most of my time and focus is geared toward my work as a faculty member at Harvard Law School, especially research via the Berkman Center. My biases that can be traced from this work map pretty well to the elements of our Center’s mission. I strive to be a relatively objective researcher and teacher, but of course I adopt certain normative viewpoints on the issues that I write about here. My Harvard-related obligations come first.
I also have “outside activities” beyond my Harvard obligations. For instance, I consult on issues that I am not directly studying in my day job, in a manner that is consistent with Harvard University’s conflict of interest and conflict of commitments rules. My primary outside activity is as Venture Executive at Highland Capital Partners. I am paid an honorarium for some of the speeches that I give (though I mostly present at academic events for which I am not compensated). From time to time, something (like a book, such as Born Digital, which I have written with Urs Gasser and which was published by Basic Books) that I write may generate royalties (again, never this blog, though). I also participate in various companies as a board member, for which I sometimes receive equity compensation. I am involved, as Chairman of the Board of Directors, of a new media company, Top Ten Media (which functions as a holding company for assets in various web 2.0 companies, including StyleFeeder). I hold equity in a few other entities, such as My Virtual Model and Newsilike Media Group. I am on the board of the non-profit Mass2020 Foundation. I also have a modest number of not-very-valuable stock holdings in other private and public technology companies — sadly, nowhere near the “5% beneficial owners of a publicly traded security” threshold that the SEC sets forth.
A special note on patents, a/k/a my Personal Patent Profits Pledge: this disclosure doesn’t have to do with this blog exactly, but about the activities of some of the companies in which I have an equity interest which may end up holding patents related to information and communications technologies. I support the reform of the patent system. To the extent that I personally profit from the straight exploitation of patent claims that issue to any of these companies in a manner not consonant with my own beliefs (I get to be the judge of that!), I intend to contribute those profits to the Berkman Center or a similarly suitable institution to support the study of patent reform. I also intend to advocate, to the extent appropriate and as consistent with fiduciary duties, for the use of creative, low- or no-cost licensing regimes, especially to support use in the .edu and .org domains.
I promise not (knowingly) to promote any given product or service on this site, whether or not I have any interest in such products or services. If ever I think that I ought to disclose a specific conflict, I will do so inline within a given blog entry. As David W puts it in his fine disclosure, (which is admittedly a model for this one): “All I can promise is that I will be honest with you and never write something I don’t believe in because someone is paying me as part of a relationship you don’t know about. Put differently: All I’ll hide are the irrelevancies.”
If you have any questions about my disclosures, which I will update from time to time, please feel free to write to me at jpalfrey AT law.harvard.edu. (Up-to-date as of Winter, 2009.)
