Mary Anne Franks is an American legal scholar, author, activist, and media commentator. She is a professor of law and the Michael R. Klein Distinguished Scholar Chair at the
University of Miami School of Law
The University of Miami School of Law (Miami Law or UM Law) is the law school of the University of Miami, a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida.
Founded in 1926, the University of Miami School of Law is the oldest law school i ...
, where she teaches First Amendment law, Second Amendment law, criminal law, criminal procedure, family law, and law and technology.
She also serves as President and Legislative and Technology Policy Director of the
Cyber Civil Rights Initiative
The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) is a non-profit organization founded by Holly Jacobs in 2012. The organization offers services to victims of cybercrimes through its crisis helpline. They have compiled resources to help victims of cybercrim ...
.
Franks' scholarly work focuses on online harassment, free speech, discrimination, and violence. Franks also writes for various news media outlets, including ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The Atlantic'', and ''The Guardian''. She was a regular contributor to ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
''. As a frequent legal commentator in the media on cyberlaw and criminal law issues, Franks has been quoted in publications such as ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''The New Yorker'', and she has appeared on CNN, the ''Today'' show, and Vice News.
Franks is a co-producer of the 2015 film ''
Hot Girls Wanted
''Hot Girls Wanted'' is a 2015 American documentary film directed by Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus. The film follows the lives of several 18- and 19-year-old pornographic actresses. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was re ...
'', a documentary produced by the actress
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones (; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress.
Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series '' Boston Public'' (2000–2002), as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' (2006–2009; 2011), and ...
that examines the "professional amateur" porn industry.
Franks's work in advocating for legislative, technological, and social reform on the issue of nonconsensual pornography ("
revenge porn") has been instrumental in drafting recent state legislation against the practice in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
She has worked with Congresswoman
Jackie Speier on a federal criminal bill, the
Intimate Privacy Protection Act
The Intimate Privacy Protection Act (IPPA) is a proposed amendment to Title 18 of the United States Code that would make it a crime to distribute nonconsensual pornography. The bill would "provide that it is unlawful to knowingly distribute a priv ...
(IPPA), which evolved into the ENOUGH Act, and again into the SHIELD Act. The SHIELD Act is now part of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021, which the United States House of Representatives passed with bipartisan support in March 2021. Franks also advises major tech companies on their privacy and abuse policies. In 2015, several major tech companies, most notably
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
announcedthat they would be adding sexually explicit images published without consent to their privacy and removal policies. In 2014, Franks was named one of "The Heroes in the Fight to Save the Internet" by the Daily Dot.
Franks is the author of ''The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech'', which won a gold medal at the 2020
Independent Publisher Book Awards
The Independent Publisher Book Awards, also styled the IPPY Awards, are a set of annual book awards for independently published titles. They are the longest-running unaffiliated contest open exclusively to independent presses. The IPPY Awards ar ...
as well as the 2020
Association of American Publishers
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...
PROSE
Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...
Award for Legal Studies and Excellence in Social Sciences. Her second book, ''Fearless Speech'', is expected in 2023.
Early life and education
Mary Anne Franks was born in
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
to Kang Tu-Kwei, a
Taiwanese
Taiwanese may refer to:
* Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien
* Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa)
* Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan
* Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan
* Taiwanese people, ...
woman, and Jesse Franks, an American
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
veteran who passed away when Franks was two years old. After her father's death, Franks spent most of her childhood in
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combin ...
, a location that Franks described as "not the most racially sensitive place." She attended Loyola University New Orleans, where she graduated summa cum laude in 1999 with a major in Philosophy and English Literature and minor in Classics.
She was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1998.
At
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
, she earned her MPhil in European literature, with distinction, in June 2001 and her DPhil in modern languages and literature in January 2004.
Her examination field of continental philosophy, psychoanalytic theory, gender theory, and political theory culminated in her doctoral thesis, "Enjoying Women: Sex, Psychoanalysis, and the Political."
In 2007, Franks graduated ''cum laude'' from
Harvard Law School, where she served as senior executive editor of the ''Harvard Journal of Law & Gender'' and executive editor of the ''Harvard Human Rights Journal''. During her time in law school, she received several awards, including the Harvard Law School Association Alumnae Fellowship, Reginald Lewis International Internship, the Chayes International Public Service Fellow in 2005, and the National Association of Women Lawyers Outstanding Law School Student Award in 2007.
Career
Between 2004 and 2005, Franks taught courses in ethics, world religions, and introductory philosophy within the Department of Humanities at
Quincy College
Quincy College (QC) is a public community college in Quincy, Massachusetts. It is an open admission commuter school that offers associate degrees, bachelor degrees, and certificate programs. It was founded in 1958 and enrolls approximately 4,500 ...
in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. During her time at Harvard Law School, Franks clerked for the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court. She also worked from 2005 to 2008 as a lecturer for the Department of Social Studies and as a teaching fellow for the government, philosophy, and English departments. From 2008 to 2010, she was a Bigelow Fellow and lecturer in law at the
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...
as well as a faculty affiliate for the Center for Gender Studies.
Franks has taught at the
University of Miami School of Law
The University of Miami School of Law (Miami Law or UM Law) is the law school of the University of Miami, a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida.
Founded in 1926, the University of Miami School of Law is the oldest law school i ...
since 2010. Between 2010 and 2015, Franks served as an associate professor of law and was promoted to professor of law in 2015. In 2013, she served as a visiting professor at the
University of Navarra
, image = UNAV.svg
, latin_name = Universitas Studiorum Navarrensis
, established = 17 October 1952
, type = Private, Roman Catholic
, chancellor = Fernando Ocáriz Braña
, president = María Iraburu Eliz ...
in
Pamplona
Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region.
Lying at near above ...
, Spain.
In 2019, Franks was recognized as a Dean's Distinguished Scholar for the Profession, an honor bestowed upon University of Miami School of Law faculty members whose scholarly contributions to the legal profession are deemed significant and influential. In 2021, she was appointed to the Michael R. Klein Distinguished Scholar Chair "to recognize her substantial contributions and ongoing accomplishments in scholarship and advocacy at the confluence of civil rights and technology."
Since 2013, Franks has worked in various capacities with the
Cyber Civil Rights Initiative
The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) is a non-profit organization founded by Holly Jacobs in 2012. The organization offers services to victims of cybercrimes through its crisis helpline. They have compiled resources to help victims of cybercrim ...
(CCRI), a nonprofit organization that seeks to combat
cyber harassment
A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing th ...
, nonconsensual pornography, and online abuse through legislation, tech policy reform, and victim support. From 2014 to 2018, she served as CCRI's Vice President. SInce 2018, she has served as CCRI's President. In addition, she has served as CCRI's Legislative & Tech Policy Director since its founding.
Franks is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia.
In October 2022, Franks joined the Council for Responsible Social Media project launched by
Issue One to address the negative mental, civic, and public health impacts of
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
in the United States co-chaired by former
House Democratic Caucus
The House Democratic Caucus is a congressional caucus composed of all Democratic Representatives in the United States House of Representatives and is responsible for nominating and electing the Democratic Party leadership in the chamber. In its ...
Leader
Dick Gephardt and former
Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor
The lieutenant governor of Massachusetts is the first in the line to discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor following the incapacitation of the Governor of Massachusetts. The constitutional honorific title for the office is His ...
Kerry Healey.
Personal life
Franks is Taiwanese-American.
In addition to her work in legal scholarship and activism, she is an instructor in
Krav Maga
Krav Maga ( ; , ; ) is an Israeli martial art. Developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it is derived from a combination of techniques used in aikido, judo, karate, boxing, and wrestling. It is known for its focus on real-world situation ...
, a self-defense system developed for the military in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. On the topic of women's empowerment through honing self-defense skills, Franks said, "Society puts a lot of focus on women as objects as opposed to women asserting their subject-hood. I’m concerned with ways that women can create a relationship with their bodies that’s about making them stronger, faster, as well as more secure." She is also a vocal proponent of hand-to-hand self-defense techniques over the use of firearms: "What troubles me about Florida when it comes to the psychology of self-defense is that our answer for defending ourselves is always a gun. Krav Maga is a nuanced approach to defending oneself and protecting one’s space. You can respond effectively, but no one gets shot, no one dies."
Selected works
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References
External links
Mary Anne Franks faculty page, University of Miami Law School*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franks, Mary Anne
Loyola University New Orleans alumni
American Rhodes Scholars
Living people
Krav Maga practitioners
Harvard Law School alumni
University of Miami faculty
American feminist writers
American legal scholars
American activists
1977 births
American women of Asian descent
American people of Taiwanese descent
First Amendment scholars
Internet theorists