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Dena T. Sacco is a Senior Researcher with the Youth and Media Project, currently focusing on policy issues related to the research on teens, parents and privacy that the Berkman Center is conducting in connection with the Pew Research Center.  Dena’s past youth and media work includes coordinating and editing the Kinder and Braver World Research Series, participating in the Youth and Media Policy Working Group Initiative, and co-directing the Internet Safety Technical Task Force.  Dena’s publications with these projects include “An Overview of State Anti-bullying and Other Relevant Laws,” “Sexting: Legal and Practical issues,” and “Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies: Final Report of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force.”

From 2007-2012, Dena was an Assistant Director and Clinical Instructor in the Berkman Center’s Cyberlaw Clinic, where she focused on child exploitation and youth online safety issues.  She has been a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School for several years, co-teaching the seminar “Child Exploitation, Pornography & the Internet” as well as teaching in the Graduate and First Year Legal Research and Writing programs.

From 1999-2005, Dena was an Assistant United States Attorney in Boston, where she had primary responsibility for child exploitation cases in the District of Massachusetts. From 1997-1999, she was a Counsel in the Office of Policy Development at the United States Department of Justice in Washington, DC. Prior to working for the federal government, Dena was an associate in the employment and labor law department of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in Washington, DC. Dena received her B.A., cum laude, from Yale College in 1990, her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1993, and an LL.M. in European Union law from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium in 1994.


Projects & Tools

Born This Way Foundation Partnership

The Born This Way Foundation has partnered with the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment and The Berkman Center at Harvard to explore the best…

The Kinder & Braver World Project: Research Series

The Kinder & Braver World Project: Research Series (danah boyd and John Palfrey, editors), is presented by the Born This Way Foundation & the Berkman Center for Internet and…


Publications

Feb 22, 2012

An Overview of State Anti-Bullying Legislation and Other Related Laws

This document provides an overview, as of January 2012, of existing state anti-bullying laws, pending state and federal anti-bullying legislation, and other relevant federal and…

Publication
Jun 22, 2010

Sexting: Youth Practices and Legal Implications

This document addresses legal and practical issues related to the practice colloquially known as sexting. It was created by Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, based at the…

Jan 14, 2009

Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies

Final Report of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force to the Multi-State Working Group on Social Networking of State Attorneys General of the United States

The Internet Safety Technical Task Force was created in February 2008 in accordance with the "Joint Statement on Key Principles of Social Networking Safety" announced in January…


News

News
May 14, 2009

First Cooley Fellow Named at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic

Cooley Godward Kronish LLP announced today that Dena Sacco, a former federal prosecutor, has been named the inaugural Cooley Fellow at the Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic at…

Mar 24, 2008

New Harvard Law seminar: Child Exploitation, Pornography & the Internet

The Cyberlaw Clinic introduces a new seminar: Child Exploitation, Pornography & the Internet. The course is co-taught by Diane Rosenfeld and Cyberlaw Clinic Assistant Director…


Courses

Child Exploitation, Pornography, and the Internet: Seminar - Spring 2011

This seminar addresses the complex legal, technological, and social questions created by the increasing distribution of both child and adult pornography on the Internet over the…

Child Exploitation, Pornography, and the Internet: Seminar - Spring 2010

This course addresses the complex legal, technological, and social questions created by the increasing distribution of both child and adult pornography on the Internet over the…

Course

Child Exploitation, Pornography, and the Internet: Seminar - Spring 2009

This course addresses the complex legal, technological, and social questions created by the rapidly increasing distribution of both child and adult pornography on the Internet…

An Introduction to American Law - Fall 2007

Fall term W 2:50 PM - 4:50 PM Ms. Dena Sacco 2 classroom credits LAW-39715A Fall This course introduces students trained as lawyers outside of…

An Introduction to American Law - Fall 2007

This course introduces students trained as lawyers outside of the United States to the U.S. legal system, helping to supplement and put into context what they learn in their other…


Events

Event
Feb 3, 2009 @ 12:30 PM

ISTTF: Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies

John Palfrey, danah boyd, Dena Sacco, Laura DeBonis

John Palfrey, danah boyd, Dena Sacco, Laura DeBonis, directors of the recently concluded Internet Safety Technical Task Force, discuss the findings and recommendations from the…