Jim Harper
Director of Information Policy Studies
As director of information policy studies, Jim Harper focuses on the difficult problems of adapting law and policy to the unique problems of the information age. Harper is a member of the Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee. His work has been cited by USA Today, the Associated Press, and Reuters. He has appeared on Fox News Channel, CBS, and MSNBC, and other media. His scholarly articles have appeared in the Administrative Law Review, the Minnesota Law Review, and the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly. Recently, Harper wrote the book Identity Crisis: How Identification Is Overused and Misunderstood. Harper is the editor of Privacilla.org, a Web-based think tank devoted exclusively to privacy, and he maintains online federal spending resource WashingtonWatch.com. He holds a J.D. from UC Hastings College of Law.
Media Contact: 202-789-5200
To Book a Speaking Engagement: 202-789-5226
E-Mail: jharper@cato.org
Books and Book Chapters
Identity Crisis: How Identification Is Overused and Misunderstood, (May 2006).
Cato Studies
"Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification: Franz Kafka's Solution to Illegal Immigration," Policy Analysis no. 612, March 6, 2008.
"Effective Counterterrorism and the Limited Role of Predictive Data Mining," by Jeff Jonas and Jim Harper, Policy Analysis no. 584, December 11, 2006.
"Understanding Privacy -- and the Real Threats to It," Policy Analysis no. 520, August 4, 2004.
Articles and Newsletters
"L-1: The Technology Company in Your Pocket," TechKnowledge, May 12, 2008.
"The "EEV" of Destruction," TechKnowledge, March 12, 2008.
"Voter ID: A Tempest in a Teapot That Could Burn Us All," TechKnowledge, January 7, 2008.
"The REAL ID Act: An Update," TechKnowledge, October 8, 2007.
"The 700 MHz Spectrum: How About an 'Open' Auction?," TechKnowledge, July 30, 2007.
Opinion and Commentary
"Can E-Verify Help Stem Tide of Illegal Immigration?," Daily Herald, March 30, 2008
"Sanford Should Stand Up to Fed Bullying Over REAL IDs," Charleston Post-Courier, March 27, 2008
"Rejecting National ID," American Spectator, February 7, 2008
"U.S.-Imposed Border Bedlam Will Hurt Michigan," Detroit News, January 30, 2008
"Another Demand for ID Poses Danger to Free Society," Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, January 12, 2008
Events
"The REAL ID Rebellion: Whither the National ID Law?," May 7, 2008 [Policy Forum]
"Funding the REAL ID Act: Improved Homeland Security or More Washington Waste?," July 20, 2007 [Capitol Hill Briefing]
"The REAL ID Act: Unfixed by the Regs and Unworkable on any Time Frame," March 12, 2007 [Capitol Hill Briefing]
"Identity Crisis: How Identification Is Overused and Misunderstood," January 18, 2007 [Book Forum]
"Copyright Controversies: Freedom, Property, Content Creation, and the DMCA ," April 26, 2006 [Conference]
Speeches and Testimony
"The Federal REAL ID Act of 2005," October 25, 2007.
"Will REAL ID Actually Make Us Safer? An Examination of Privacy and Civil Liberties Concerns ," May 8, 2007.
"Hearing on Proposals to Improve the Electronic Employment Verification and Worksite Enforcement System," April 26, 2007.
"Understanding the Realities of REAL ID: A Review of Efforts to Secure Drivers' Licenses and Identification Cards," March 26, 2007.
"The REAL ID Act: Ill-Considered," February 13, 2007.
Multimedia
"How to Edify E-Verify" featuring Jim Harper, July 9, 2008 [Flash Audio, 06:58]
"Kafka's Solution to Illegal Immigration" featuring Jim Harper, March 6, 2008 [Flash Audio, 06:58]
"I Only Have Eyes for You" featuring Jim Harper, February 14, 2008 [Flash Audio, 07:38]
"The FBI's Biometric Boom" featuring Jim Harper, January 4, 2008 [Flash Audio, 08:37]
"Once More Into A Breach" featuring Jim Harper, January 2, 2008 [Flash Audio, 07:31]