After much deliberation over many months and miles, I have finally made a decision: I will be a proud member of the Class of 2013 (!) at William & Mary’s Marshall-Wythe School of Law. I couldn’t go wrong with the choices I had, but W&M just… feels right. It feels right the same way Davidson felt right in 2003, and every student, faculty member, and alum I’ve spoken with talks about W&M the same way my friends and I talk about Davidson. It is, in short, a very special place.
I have also accepted a fellowship with the law school’s Center for Legal and Court Technology. Among other things, I will be working with the CLCT’s website (which, I think you’ll agree, needs a major overhaul). I will likely serve in an editorial capacity, helping to get the word out about its various projects and accomplishments. Once I am up to speed, I want to look into launching the CLCT’s voice into the social networking world, where it can join the real-time conversation with its peer organizations. In addition to my first-year academics, it should be a lot of fun to continue some hands-on project work at the same time.
It sure will be tough to leave a dream job at Google at the end of July, but I am also excited to get back into full-time academics and continue my professional development. Moving across the country (literally) from San Francisco to tiny Williamsburg will also be tough, but I know this is the right move at the right time for me.
More details to come!
Yesterday, Google launched the Government Requests tool. The site shows the number of requests for user data and content removals that Google received from governments worldwide, from July through December 2009. Chief Legal Officer David Drummond explains our motivation here (and also published an op-ed in the Washington Post on the subject), but the gist is best summarized in this simple sentence:
“We believe that greater transparency will lead to less censorship.”
This is an important moment not only for Google, but also for our users and the rest of the industry. I am proud to have helped gather much of the data for this project, and I look forward to seeing other organizations follow our lead.
As you can see below, I went to the BCS Championship Game to watch the Crimson Tide take the national championship. It was, in a word, sweet. My parents flew back up to San Francisco with me to meet Claire, see my apartment for the first time, and celebrate my mom’s birthday. We had a really nice time.
I will not be a Harvard man, having received a “no” from their JD admissions office. Alas. More good options yet!
I received a really nice award from Google this week for working on these. We also launched the big internal project I’ve been leading, and I was nicely rewarded for that as well. They like me over there.
Mr. Ansley will be paying me a visit in SF next week, which will be epic.
I’m pumped about my trip to Australia with Claire, beginning at the end of the month.
That’s it!
Check out Taylor’s new home on the web!
A “no” from Georgetown, but a scholarship offer from Santa Clara! Still consider W&M at the head of the pack so far, looking forward to more news soon…
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