Justin (Gus) Hurwitz Professor of Law and The Menard Director of the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center
Biography
Professor Justin (Gus) Hurwitz work’s builds on his background in law, technology, and economics to consider the interface between law and technology and the role of regulation in high-tech industries. He has a particular expertise in telecommunications law and technology, including data- and cybersecurity, and was recognized as a Cyber Security & Data Privacy Trailblazer by the National Law Journal. His work has appeared in the Brooklyn, Connecticut, DePaul, George Mason, Iowa, Michigan State, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and other law reviews and journals.
He is the The Menard Director of the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center. Since joining the College of Law Faculty, his work has been cited by the FCC, FTC, Federal District and Circuit judges, and United States Senators, and he has spoken or testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, FCC and FTC, the United States Army's 7th Signal Command, and German and Colombian competition regulators.
He is also the Director for Law and Economics Programing with the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE), a think tank based in Portland, Oregon, where he directs a new law and economics-focused research program and helps to translate academic research into applied policy issues. He also is, or has been, affiliated with the Classical Liberal Institute at New York University School of Law, the National Security Institute at George Mason University, and the American Enterprise Institute.
Professor Hurwitz previously was the inaugural Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition (CTIC), prior to which he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at George Mason University Law School. From 2007–2010 he was a Trial Attorney with the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division in the Telecommunications and Media Enforcement Section.
Professor Hurwitz has a background in technology having worked at Los Alamos National Lab and interned at the Naval Research Lab prior to law school. During this time his work was recognized by organizations such as the Federal Laboratory Consortium, R&D Magazine, Los Alamos National Lab, IEEE & ACM, and the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California. In addition, he held an Internet2 Land Speed World Record with the Guinness Book of World Records.
Professor Hurwitz received his JD from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an articles editor on the Chicago Journal of International Law and received Olin and MVP2 law and economics scholarships. He also holds an MA in Economics from George Mason University. He received his BA from St. John’s College.
Watch to learn more about Professor Hurwitz's impact on rural communities.
Courses
Domestic Cybersecurity Law 582/G (3 cr hr)
Cybersecurity is one of the most important and challenging emerging legal issues of the 21st century. Networked computer systems give bad actors access to data and information stored on those systems (e.g., consumer financial or health information; trade secrets and other sensitive commercial information), control over the systems themselves (e.g., to damage or disrupt; to use for other computer-based activities), and access to physical-world control systems (e.g., control over industrial equipment, electrical infrastructure, or driverless cars). Amazingly, there is no coherent legal framework to address these issues. There is, however, an at-times incomplete and at-times overlapping patchwork of legal authorities that applies to many of them. Moreover, many of these issues implicate technical considerations: either technology makes it more difficult for the law to address them, or they are better solved by technology than through the law. This class provides students with an interdisciplinary introduction to cybersecurity law, focusing on the legal frameworks that exist today, the challenges of developing more comprehensive legal frameworks, and the nuts-and-bolts guidance that lawyers need to be able to give their clients when it comes to good (and bad) cybersecurity practices.
Principles of Regulation Law 668/G (3 cr hr)
We live in a regulatory state – all lawyers address regulatory issues throughout their professional and personal lives. Day-to-day personal and business activities are governed by rules created by lawyers working for local, state, and federal entities. Private-sector lawyers work with these public entities on behalf of their clients. Private parties self-regulate (e.g., ABA regulation of lawyers; corporate governance; industry self-regulation). Beyond the practice of law, modern political discourse is dominated by discussion about regulation. As members of the legal profession, lawyers play a vital role in this discourse, informing and shaping the opinions of colleagues, friends, and families – in addition to those of policymakers – about whether and how regulatory intervention is beneficial to society. This course examines the principles of regulation that run through all of these contexts, considering what it means to regulate, why we regulate, and how we regulate. It focuses on the myriad tensions and contradictions often inherent in regulation, to equip students with critical analytical tools needed in today’s legal, political, and business environment.
Torts Law 503/G (4 cr hr)
The legal protection afforded in civil proceedings against interference with the physical security of one's person and property, and against interference with one's relations and with other intangible interests. The course covers the substantive principles that govern tort claims (ranging from claims for intentional wrongdoing, to negligence claims, to claims that the defendant is strictly liable for harms caused to the plaintiff), and further explores the theoretical bases and practical implications of such claims.
Technology Governance and Regulation: Concepts 775/G (1 cr hr)
This single credit, pass/fail class is offered to all students at the beginning of each semester. The course serves as a foundation for other courses in the technology governance curriculum. It starts by introducing technical concepts, such as how computers and the Internet work, in a manner accessible to all students. It then continues with foundational legal concepts, such as the First and Fourth Amendments. The third portion of the class introduces regulatory concepts such as administrative and antitrust law. This course is available to online LLM students.
Platforms: Networks and Infrastructure 726 (2 cr hr)
This course introduces students to the legal, policy, economic, and technological issues surrounding the regulation of communications networks and infrastructure. The course is structured primarily around the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and related laws and covers topics including regulation of broadcast radio and television, cable and satellite television, the telephone network, cellular and wireless communications, and the Internet. Several themes will be explored throughout the course, including the operation of regulatory agencies and administrative law, First Amendment issues relating to the regulation of speech on these networks, the relationship between antitrust and regulation, the role of regulation in promoting technological innovation, the economics of bundling and of network industries, and the social and distributive challenges of providing universal access to communications networks. Discussion will use current topics as case studies. This course is available to online LLM students. Pre-requisite: Technology Governance and Regulation: Concepts.
Articles
Truth on the Market Regular Contributor.
Post-Cartesian Antitrust NEB. L. REV., Forthcoming 2019.
Madison and Shannon on Social Media BUS., ENTREPRENEURSHIP, & TAX L. REV. Forthcoming 2019.
Chevron's Political Domain: W(h)ither Step Three? 68 DEPAUL L. REV. 615 (2019).
McGeveran’s The Duty of Data Security: Not the objective duty he wants, Maybe the subjective duty we need 103 MINN. L. REV. HEADNOTES 139 (2019).
Telemarketing, Technology, and the Regulation of Private Speech, 84 BROOK. L. REV. 1 (2019).
Big Tech’s Big-Time, Big-Scale Problem CATO POLICY REPORT 1 (May/June 2018) (with Geoff Manne).
Fake News’s Not-So-Real Antitrust Problem: Content Remains King 13 ANTITRUST CHRON. (Dec. 19, 2017).
EncryptionCongress mod (Apple + CALEA) 30 Harv. J. Law. & Tech. 355 (2017).
Cyberensuring Security 49 U. Conn. L. Rev. 1495 (2017).
Blacklining Editorial Privilege 23 Mich. Telecom. & Tech. L. Rev. 149 (2016).
Data Security and the FTC's UnCommon Law 101 Iowa L. Rev. 955 (2016).
The Practical Power of the Commission's UMC Statement 11 Antitrust Chronicle (Nov. 30, 2015).
Net Neutrality: Something Old; Something New, 2015 MSU L. Rev. 665 (2015).
Debatable Premises in Telecom Policy 31 J. Info. Tech., & Priv. L. 453 (2015) (with Roslyn Layton).
Chevron and the Limits of Administrative Antitrust, 76 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 209 (2014).
Administrative Antitrust 21 GMU L. Rev. 1191 (2014).
Trust and Online Interaction, 161 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1579 (2013).
Indexing Health Insurance Premiums to Marginal Health Status: A Spoonful of Economics Helps the Premiums go Down 12 Depaul J. Health Care L. 43 (2009).
The Value of Patents in Industry Standards: Avoiding License Arbitrage with Voluntary Negotiation, 36 AM. Intel. Prop. L. Ass’n. Q.J. 1 (2008).
Network Neutrality and Neighbor Billing, 11 VA. J.L. & Tech. 9 (2006).
Analysing MPI Performance over 10-gigabit Ethernet. 65 J. Parallel and Distributed Computing 1253 (2005), with Wu-chun Feng, Peer-reviewed Research Note.
End-to-End Performance of 10-Gigabit Ethernet on Commodity Systems, 24 IEEE Micro 10 (2004) with Wu-chun Feng, Invited Article.
High Performance Wide Area Network Testbed: Experiences and Results, Proc. Conf. for High Energy Physics (2003), Les Cottrell, et al. [first author, second line], Peer-reviewed Paper.
Book Chapters
Classical Liberalism and the Problem of Technological Change in The Cambridge Handbook of Classical Liberal Thought Todd Henderson, ed., Cambridge 2018) (with Geoff Manne.
Telecommunications Competition Law vs. Policy in the United States, Competition Law in Telecommunications Markets: Key Regulatory Challenges Sandra Marco Colino, ed, Wolters, forthcoming 2017
Satellite Harmful Interference: A US Perspective, Harmful Interference in Regulatory Perspective: Legal rules for interference-free radio communication (Mahulena Hoffman, ed., Ashgate 2016)
Telecommunications Competition Law vs. Policy in the United States, Competition Law in Telecommunications Markets: Key Regulatory Challenges Sandra Marco Colino, ed, Wolters, forthcoming 2017
Satellite Harmful Interference: A US Perspective, Harmful Interference in Regulatory Perspective: Legal rules for interference-free radio communication Mahulena Hoffman, ed., Ashgate 2016
Presentations
Innovation and the Open Internet, Michigan State Law Review Symposium on "Public Domain(s): Law and Generating Knowledge and Innovation in the Information Economy" Michigan State University, MI (October 2014)
The FTC's UnCommon Law of Data Security, Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA (September 2014)
Debatable Premises in Telecom Policy Debates, Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA (September 2014)
The FTC's UnCommon Law of Data Security, Intellectual Property Scholars Conference, UC Berkeley Law School, Berkeley, CA (August 2014)
Satellite Harmful Interference: A U.S. Telecom Perspective, 3rd Luxembourg Workshop on Satellite Communication, University of Luxembourg (June 5-6, 2014)
Debatable Premises in Telecom Policy Debates, Penn State IIP/FCC Workshop on 'The Future of Broadband Regulation," Federal Communications Commission, Washington DC (May 2014)
Panelist, Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus, The FCC;s Grand Internet Plans: "The Open Internet" and Massive Mobile Spectrum Auctions: What Do you Need to Know?, Washington DC (May 16, 2014)
The FTC's UnCommon Law of Data Security, GMU LEC Public Policy Conference on "The Future of Privacy and Data Security Regulation," GMU School of Law, Arlington, VA (May 14, 2014)
The Legal Dimension of Hearbleed, STRATCOM Fellows Day, UNL College of Law, Lincoln, NE (May 5, 2014)
Panelist, A New FCC and a New Communications Act: Aligning Communications Policy with Marketplace Realities, Free State Foundation, Washington, DC (Mar 18, 2014)
Panelist, Panel on Section 5 Policy, GMU LEC & Law Review Symposium on “The FTC: 100 Years of Antitrust and Competition Policy,” George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA (Feb 13, 2014)
Panelist, Tech policy 2014: The year ahead, American Enterprise Institute (Jan 17, 2014)
Panelist and Organizer, FTC Reform Project, TechFreedom and International Center for Law and Economics, Washington, DC (Dec 17, 2013)
Commentator, Book Symposium on Christopher Yoo, The Dynamic Internet, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, PA (Dec 9, 2013)
Moderator and Organizer, Panel on 100 Years of Kingsbury: Regulation v. Market Based Mechanisms, 6th Annual Lincoln Space and Cyber Law DC Conference, Washington, DC (Nov 5–6, 2013
Computer Science and the Law Roundtable, Participant & Presenter, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, PA (June 24–25, 2013)
Standard-Setting Organizations and Standard-Essential Patents Roundtable, Invited Participant, Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property, George Mason University Law School, Fairfax, VA (June 10, 2013)
Understanding Entrepreneurship: On IP, Culture and Innovation Environments, Moderator, Panel on Internet and Entrepreneurship, Conference, Bar-Ilan University, Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv Israel (May 20–21, 2013)
Radio Frequency Interference: A Growing Problem in Need of Further Legal Solutions?, Commentator, 7th Annual Lincoln Space and Cyber Law Conference, University of Nebraska College of Law (May 2, 2013)
The Value of Ultra-Fast Broadband, Moderator, Conference on “From Monopoly to Competition or Competition to Monopoly? U.S. Broadband Markets in 2013,” Information Economy Project, George Mason University Law School, Fairfax, VA (April 19, 2013)
Patented Inventions and Promoting Innovation, Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property Invited Participant, Roundtable Discussion, Half Moon Bay, CA (March 7–8, 2013)
Public Choice Economics Workshop Participant, George Mason University Law & Economics Center, Captiva, FL (January 25–28, 2013)
Trust and Online Interaction as Verifiable but Non-Observable Conduct, Presenter, University of Pennsylvania Law Review Symposium on “The Evolving Internet,” University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, PA (Oct. 19–20, 2012)
The Internet’s Potential: Law, Tech, and Trust, Big Ideas@Penn, Presenter, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (Sept. 19, 2012)
Privacy in the Cloud Panel Moderator, Conference on “Cloud Computing: Economic and Regulatory Implications,” CTIC, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, PA (Feb. 24, 2012)
Governance of Social Media Workshop, Invited Participant, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC (Nov 11–12, 2011)
The Law and Economics of Search Engines and Online Advertising Research Roundtable Discussant, George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA (November 3-4, 2011)
Natural Law and Property Rights in American Private Law Colloquium, Discussant, sponsored by the Liberty Fund and the Federalist Society, Denver, CO (August 12–13, 2011)
Antitrust Implications of Competition without Equilibrium in Multisided Markets, Second Workshop for Junior Researchers on the Law & Economics of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, International Max Planck Research School for Competition and Innovation Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Kreuth, Germany (June 6, 2011
Will the FCC or the Justice Department Be Tougher on the AT&T/T-Mobile Merger? Panelist, Broadband Breakfast, Washington, DC (May 17, 2011), available at http://broadbandbreakfast.com/ 2011/05/may-broadband-breakfast-explores-attt-mobile-merger/
Substantive Lessons from the Common Law: Lessons from Tort Law Panel, Moderator, Conference on “Intellectual Property and the Common Law,” CTIC, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, PA (May 6, 2011)
Antitrust Implications of Competition without Equilibrium in Multisided Markets, Robert A. Levy Workshop in Law & Liberty, George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA (Feb. 24, 2011)
Other
Awards
Cyber Security and Data Privacy Trailblazer, National Law Journal (2015)
Symposium Scholar, University of Pennsylvania Law Review (2012)
Recognition for Contributions to Legal Scholarship, US Department of Justice Libraries (2010)
Swope Antitrust Writing Competition, Jones Day (2007)
Excellence in Technology Transfer, Federal Lab Consortium (2005) (as member of RADIANT Team)
R&D 100, Award for technologically significant innovation, R&D Magazine (2004) (as member of RADIANT Team)
Recognition for 10GbE Innovations, Los Alamos Awards Program (2004) (as member of RADIANT Team)
SuperComputing Bandwidth Challenge, Sustained Bandwith Award, IEEE & ACM (2003) (as members of RADIANT Team)
Internet2 Land Speed Record, Guinness Book of World Records (2003) (as member of RADIANT Team)
Recognition for Internet2 Work, Los Alamos Awards Program (2003) (as member of RADIANT Team)
On the Road to Ten Gigabit: Biggest, Fastest in the West, CENIC (2003) (as member of RADIANT Team)
Internet2 Law Speed Record, Single Stream Class, Internet2 consortium (2003) (as member of RADIANT Team)
Internet2 Land Speed Record, Multiple Stream Class, Internet2 consortium (2003) (as member of RADIANT Team)
Media
Tim Cook's Bad Apple, Wall Street Journal (Feb. 21, 2016)
Apple v. U.S.: 5 things Gus Hurwitz wants you to know UNL Today (Feb. 19, 2016)
Obamanet Heads to Court Wall Street Journal (Aug. 15, 2015)
Outsourcing Notice to Vogons, This Week in Law (Jul. 10, 2015)
Supreme Court checks agency overreach, signaling trouble for FCC, The Hill (July 1, 2015)
T-Mobile could soon belong to DISH Washington Post (2015)
Just Don't Touch Music, Man This Week in Law (2015)
With 'Net Neutrality', FCC Moves Beyond Its Legal Authority Real Clear Markets (2015)
F.C.C. Plans Strong Hand to Regulate the Internet New York Times (2015)
Aereo to Suspend Operations Following Supreme Court Ruling: Video-Streaming Startup Will Re-Evaluate Strategy Wall Street Journal (2014)
A Death Knell for Aereo? Wall Street Journal Lawblog (2014)
Is municipal broadband more important than net neutrality? Fortune.com (2014)
The FCC’s Grand Internet Plans: “The Open Internet” and Massive Mobile Spectrum Auctions: What Do You Need to Know? CSPAN2 (2014)
‘Anti-Aereo’ founder warns wrong Supreme Court decision could lead to crappier television Upstart Business Website (2014)
A New FCC and a New Communications Act: Aligning Communications Policy with Marketplace Realities CSPAN2 (2014)
Why the Comcast–Time Warner Cable deal could be a disaster for consumers TheDailyDot (2014)
The Net Neutrality Decision Should Have Both Sides Happy Real Clear Markets (2014)
Other
Regular Contributor to TechPolicyDaily.com
Comments of Free State Foundation Scholars in Response to Questions in the Fourth White Paper, ‘Network Interconnection’, submitted to House Energy and Commerce Committee (Aug 8) (contributor, with Randolph J. May, Seth L. Cooper, Richard A. Epstein, Dani
Regulation, Competition, and Online Video, Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on “At a Tipping Point: Consumer Choice, Consolidation and the Future Video Marketplace,” United States Senate, Washington DC, (July 16, 2014)
Net Neutrality Regulation in the United States: An Overview, Keynote address German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Conference on “Net Neutrality in the light of recent developments in Europe and the US,” German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Berlin, Germany, (July 3, 2014)
Comments of Free State Foundation Scholars in Response to Questions in the Third White Paper, ‘Competition Policy and the Role of the Federal Communications Commission’, submitted to House Energy and Commerce Committee (June 13) (contributor, with Randolp
Comments of Free State Foundation Scholars in Response to Questions in the Second White Paper, ‘Modernizing U.S. Spectrum Policy’, submitted to House Energy and Commerce Committee (April 25, 2014) (principle author, with Randolph May, Michelle P. Connolly
Comments of American Enterprise Institute Scholars on Communications Act Modernization, submitted to House Energy and Commerce Committee (Jan 31, 2014) (principle author, with Richard Bennett, Jeffrey A. Eisenach, James K. Glassman, Bronwyn E. Howell, Ros
Comments of Free State Foundation Scholars in Response to Questions in the First White Paper, 'Modernizing the Communications Act', submitted to House Energy and Commerce Committee (Jan 31, 2014) (contributor, with Randolph J. May, Richard A. Epstein, Dan
Consumer Protection & Competition Regulation in a High Tech World: Discussing the Future of the Federal Trade Commission, Report of TechFreedom and ICLE FTC Reform Working Group (Dec 16, 2013) (principle co-author, with Berin Szoka and Geoff Manne).
Signatory on and contributor to Amici Curiae Brief Of TechFreedom, International Center For Law And Economics & Consumer Protection Scholars, filed in FTC v. Wyndham Corp. (filed May 2, 2013).