The Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School (HLS) has a vision of the future, and it's networked.

The center, home to Harvard's leading experts on law in cyberspace, does research on subjects ranging from academic uses of the Internet to protecting privacy rights on-line.

The center is run by HLS faculty and staffed by HLS students, but it has affiliates around the world. Its location at Harvard may help the University stay on top of legal issues that are becoming increasingly urgent with the proliferation of electronic communication and commerce.

But like so many institutions that push the envelope, the center has stirred controversy within the University community.

Harvard at Your Desktop?

According to its director, Weld Professor of Law Charles R. Nesson '60, the center has been developing educational software that provides all Internet users with access to on-line courses provided by the center and taught by Harvard faculty.

The future of learning may be long-distance, but for now, these courses are not-for-credit and do not entail registering with the University.

Nesson says that tying a Harvard certification to on-line educational offerings would be "a big risk"--one he doesn't intend to take.

"We are operating with the Provost's [Harvey V. Fineberg '67] warning in mind," Nesson says. "We don't want to damage the Harvard name by associating it with on-line product."

The University may be justifiably concerned about faculty making courses publicly available on the Web.

Jonathan L. Zittrain, the center's executive director and an HLS lecturer, explains that the Harvard administration has "gotten worried over ownership issues."

Among the courses being offered through the center this semester are "Homer's Poetic Justice," taught by Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature Gregory Nagy, and "Privacy in Cyberspace" with Bromley Professor of Law Arthur R. Miller.

The center is calling each course a "lecture and discussion series" so that they will not be mistaken for real Harvard classes.

The Wonders of Open Code

One of the distinctive features of the center's academic software is its openness, explain Nesson and Zittrain.