
Yochai Benkler ( ; born 1964) is an
Israeli-American
Israeli Americans () are Americans who are of full or partial Israeli descent.
The Israeli-American community, while predominantly Jewish, also includes various ethnic and religious minorities reflective of Israel's diverse demographics. This c ...
author and the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
. He is also a faculty co-director of the
Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society is a research center at Harvard University that focuses on the study of cyberspace. Founded at Harvard Law School, the center traditionally focused on internet-related legal issues. On May 15, 2008, ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. In academia he is best known for coining the term ''
commons-based peer production'' and his widely cited 2006 book ''
The Wealth of Networks.''
Biography
From 1984 to 1987, Benkler was a member and treasurer of the
Kibbutz
A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
Shizafon. He received his
LL.B. from
Tel-Aviv University
Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...
in 1991 and
J.D. from
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
in 1994. He worked at the law firm
Ropes & Gray from 1994 to 1995. He clerked for
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
Justice
Stephen G. Breyer from 1995 to 1996.
He was a professor at
New York University School of Law
The New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City.
Established in 1835, it was the first law school established in New York City and is the oldest survivin ...
from 1996 to 2003, and visited at
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...
and Harvard Law School (during 2002–2003), before joining the Yale Law School faculty in 2003. In 2007, Benkler joined Harvard Law School, where he teaches and is a faculty co-director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Benkler is on the advisory board of the
Sunlight Foundation. In 2011, his research led him to receive the $100,000
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...
Social Change Visionaries Award. He is also one of the 25 leading figures on the Information and Democracy Commission launched by
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...
.
Works
Benkler's research focuses on commons-based approaches to managing resources in networked environments. He coined the term ''
commons-based peer production'' to describe collaborative efforts based on sharing information, such as
free and open source software
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a Software license, license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term ...
and
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...
. He also uses the term 'networked information economy' to describe a "system of production, distribution, and consumption of information goods characterized by decentralized individual action carried out through widely distributed, nonmarket means that do not depend on market strategies."
''The Wealth of Networks''
Benkler's 2006 book ''
The Wealth of Networks'' examines the ways in which information technology permits extensive forms of collaboration that have potentially transformative consequences for economy and society.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...
,
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...
,
Open Source Software
Open-source software (OSS) is Software, computer software that is released under a Open-source license, license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and Software distribution, distribute the software an ...
and the
blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social networking service in which everyday authors can pu ...
are among the examples that Benkler draws upon. (''The Wealth of Networks'' is itself published under a
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...
license.) For example, Benkler argues that blogs and other modes of participatory communication can lead to "a more critical and self-reflective culture", where citizens are empowered by the ability to publicize their own opinions on a range of issues, which enables them to move from passive recipients of "received wisdom" to active participants. Much of ''
The Wealth of Networks'' is presented in economic terms, and Benkler raises the possibility that a culture in which information is shared freely could prove more economically efficient than one in which innovation is encumbered by
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
or
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
law, since the marginal cost of re-producing most information is effectively nothing.
''Network Propaganda''
Along with Robert Faris, Research Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, and Hal Roberts, a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, Benkler co-authored the October 2018 ''
Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation and Radicalization in American Politics''.
In 2011, Benkler published ''The Penguin and the Leviathan: How Cooperation Triumphs over Self-Interest''.
Awards
* 2006 –
Donald McGannon Award for Social and Ethical Relevance in Communications Policy Research
* 2006 – ''Public Knowledge'' IP3 Award
* 2007 –
EFF Pioneer Award
The EFF Award, formerly EFF Pioneer Award, is an annual prize by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for people who have made significant contributions to the empowerment of individuals in using computers.
Venue
Until 1998 it was presented ...
* 2008 – The
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...
Section on Communication and Information Technologies (CITASA) Book Award
* 2009 – Don K. Price Award
* 2011 –
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...
Visionaries Award
Twelve Social Change Visionaries Are Honored by the Ford Foundation
on fordfoundation.org
See also
* List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 2)
* Industrial information economy
Industrial information economy is a term coined by Harvard University Professor Yochai Benkler. Benkler discusses this term in-depth in his 2006 book ''The Wealth of Networks, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Fr ...
* Carr–Benkler wager
References
External links
*
Official page
at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
*
Interview with Benkler
Speaking at Pop!Tech 2005
*
** (TEDGlobal 2005)
The Penguin and The Leviathan: The Science and Practice of Cooperation
at The Santa Fe Institute 2010.
Wikipedia 1, Hobbes 0: Benkler's chair lecture at Harvard Law
as reported in the '' Harvard Law Record''
From Consumers to Users: Shifting the Deeper Structures of Regulation. Toward Sustainable Commons and User Access
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benkler, Yochai
1964 births
Access to Knowledge activists
American people of Israeli descent
Jewish American academics
Israeli Jews
American legal scholars
Copyright activists
Copyright scholars
Harvard Law School alumni
Harvard Law School faculty
New York University School of Law faculty
Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
Living people
Tel Aviv University alumni
Creative Commons-licensed authors
Wikimedians
People from Givatayim
21st-century American Jews
Ropes & Gray associates