Q&A on electronic communications policies
Last year, Harvard President Drew Faust asked David Barron ’89, J.D. ’94, Harvard Law School’s Honorable S. William Green Professor of Public Law, to lead a 14-member task force that would make forward-looking recommendations regarding Harvard’s policies and protocols on the privacy of, and access to, electronic communications. Barron, who was acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice from 2009 to 2010, discussed the task force’s report and proposed policy, which were released this week, with the Gazette. GAZETTE: Can you describe your working process with the committee? BARRON: The idea was to have representatives from all the Schools at the University, both faculty and administrators, people within the University’s administration who would be both responsible for operating under any policy and who would also have knowledge and experience with these types of issues. In the spring we focused on coming up with some...