The University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity at the School of Information is proud to welcome Chris Jay Hoofnagle, Professor of Law in Residence, as its next Faculty Director. Working alongside CLTC Executive Director Ann Cleaveland, Hoofnagle will play a key role in guiding CLTC’s research agenda as the Center expands its efforts to help decision-makers act with foresight and expand who participates in and benefits from digital security.
“This is an exciting moment,” Hoofnagle says. “The public policy problems that CLTC works on are deeply important. As our lives are increasingly mediated by digital technologies, whether those technologies are secure will determine the quality of our freedom of speech, freedom of association, and the degree that we can have intimacy. It’s not just national security and whether or not there’s money in the bank. The fabric of our society could be torn or strengthened by these technologies. It’s a tremendous, important challenge.”
“Chris has been a champion and supporter of CLTC since the beginning, and I’m thrilled that he is now taking on this leadership role,” says CLTC Executive Director Ann Cleaveland. “I can't imagine someone with a better combination of expertise, ideas, energy, and deep understanding of CLTC’s mission to be our next Faculty Director. We’re all excited about what we can do together with Chris as we embark on CLTC’s next phase.”
Hoofnagle will assume the faculty director position previously held by Professor Steven Weber, who has announced he will be retiring at the end of the year. Weber launched CLTC in 2015 with a historic $15-million grant from the Hewlett Foundation’s Cyber Initiative, and he has since built the center to become a renowned hub for forward-thinking insights on digital security challenges.
“Steve Weber set up the CLTC for success,” Hoofnagle says. “Steve’s initial framing was brilliant, because it defined a path that's different from other cybersecurity centers, a path that only a university can fulfill. We have the luxury to think five to 10 years out. The focus on who participates in cybersecurity is also important, because we can erode the gender and race gaps that exist in the profession, and democratize decision-making while making security more usable.”
Hoofnagle came to the UC Berkeley School of Law in 2006, and since has pursued multidisciplinary projects with School of Information (I School) students. In 2016, he joined the I School, working with then Dean Anno Saxenian, Steven Weber, and Doug Tygar on the creation of the I School’s Master in Information and Cybersecurity (MICS) degree program. With colleague Jennifer Urban, Hoofnagle has taught a reading group for students interested in cybersecurity, and developed a website of campus resources. He also teaches an introductory course called “Cybersecurity in Context.”
Hoofnagle’s 2016 book, Federal Trade Commission Privacy Law and Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2016), explores the FTC’s role in security and privacy as an outgrowth of its regulation of advertising. His forthcoming book with Simson Garfinkel, Law and Policy for the Quantum Age, examines the strategic implications of quantum sensing, computing, and communications. Hoofnagle is a longtime practitioner, serving as counsel to emerging technology firm Gunderson Dettmer LLP, and he is a member of the American Law Institute.
CLTC will continue to advance its ongoing research initiatives, which include new research focused on security and the hybrid workplace, and on the impacts of privacy regulations on organizations’ behavior; the AI Security Initiative (AISI), which is shaping guidelines and regulations for the future of artificial intelligence; the Citizen Clinic, a trailblazing course that trains students to provide digital security assistance to public-interest organizations; and the Internet Atlas, a project focused on measuring long-term structural risks to the global internet.
Originally published by the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity on October 4, 2021.
