David G. Post
David G. Post

Professor David G. Post is currently Professor of Law at the Beasley School of Law at Temple University, where he teaches intellectual property law and the law of cyberspace. He is also a Fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Fellow of the Institute for Information Law and Policy at New York Law School, an Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, and a contributor to the influential Volokh Conspiracy law blog. His writings include In Search of Jefferson’s Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace (Oxford, 2009) a Jeffersonian view of Internet law and policy (a Green Bag "Exemplary Legal Writing 2009" honoree), Cyberlaw: Problems of Policy and Jurisprudence in the Information Age (West, 4th Ed. 2011), the leading casebook in the area of Internet law, and numerous scholarly articles on intellectual property and the law of cyberspace. After receiving a PhD in physical anthropology and then a JD, he practiced intellectual property law at at the Washington D.C. law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and the US Supreme Court, and taught on the faculties of Georgetown and George Mason Law Schools. Professor Post has been a regular contributor/commentator in the American Lawyer, InformationWeek, the Lehrer News Hour, Court TV’s Supreme Court Preview, NPR’s All Things Considered, BBC’s World, and the PBS documentary "The Supreme Court." Professor Post’s writings can be accessed online at davidpost.com

Columns by David G. Post
SOPA and the Future of Internet Governance

Justia guest columnist and Temple law professor David Post offers a clear, detailed explanation of SOPA (and similar bills), and the reasons why they eventually failed—and, Post argues, should have failed. As Post explains, SOPA’s aim was to reduce or eliminate access to websites that are dedicated to infringing activities, and are operating outside of U.S. borders. (Such offshore websites offer, for example, copyrighted music or movies for download, or sell knockoffs of trademarked products, all without proper authorization from the rights holder.) Post explains why SOPA failed, noting that it would have done damage to the technical infrastructure of the Internet. For that, and other reasons—including SOPA’s disregard for due process when it comes to foreigners and their sites—Post argues that SOPA’s plan for Internet law enforcement, based on seizing and sanctioning domain names, is deeply flawed.