While the new federal “Take It Down Act” that aims to protect people from the unauthorized sharing of intimate, sexually explicit images, is a really welcome and much needed weapon against revenge porn, deepfakes, and cyberbullying; it could also be misused to supress legitimate political speech.

That’s what we’re talking about today, with Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Jess Miers, who has experience working for Google as a Senior Government Affairs & Public Policy Analyst, and who teaches classes on technology-related legal issues, at the University of Akron. 

Prof. Jess Miers, University of Akron

Biography
Jess Miers is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Akron School of Law. A lawyer and technologist, Jess focuses on the intersection of law and technology, with recent research and scholarship centered on Generative AI. Jess is recognized as an expert in U.S. online intermediary liability law and has extensively written, spoken, and taught on issues such as online speech and Section 230, content moderation, intellectual property, and cybercrime.

Previously, Jess served as Senior Counsel and Senior Copyright Counsel for Chamber of Progress, a progressive tech trade association based in Washington, D.C., where, among many things, she helped build and lead the organization’s recent AI initiative, “Generate and Create.” During her time at Chamber of Progress, Jess authored numerous appellate amicus briefs, including a brief in the recent Supreme Court cases NetChoice & CCIA v. Moody & Paxton. Before joining Chamber of Progress, Jess was a Senior Government Affairs & Public Policy Analyst at Google, where she oversaw state and federal content policy portfolios and collaborated with litigation teams on key online speech issues currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jess earned her Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University School of Law in 2021, where she also received the Tech Edge J.D. Certificate. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from George Mason University and previously worked as a Software Engineer in Northern Virginia. Throughout her legal education, Jess worked at various organizations, including Twitter, TechFreedom, The UCLA Technology Law and Policy Institute, and Google, cultivating a deep expertise in Internet law and policy.