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Cyber and privacy law attorney and scholar joins Penn State Law faculty


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Anne T. McKenna, an attorney with more than 20 years of practice experience in cyber, privacy, electronic surveillance, and cellular law, has joined the Penn State Law faculty as a visiting assistant professor of law.

McKenna joins Penn State Law from the law firm of Silverman/Thompson/Slutkin/White, where she chaired the firm’s cyber law group. She has also served as a Penn State Law adjunct professor for the past two years, teaching Information Privacy Law.

“It’s a pleasure to welcome Anne to our law faculty in University Park,” said Penn State Law Interim Dean and Distinguished Scholar in Residence James W. Houck. “She brings a wealth of experience from her decades of practice on the cutting edge of a rapidly developing legal area. Her expertise will be critical as we continue to grow Penn State Law’s teaching and research prowess in information privacy and cybersecurity law.”

McKenna has represented large and small businesses, educational clients, and individuals in matters involving workplace privacy and surveillance, data practices, data breach and data theft, website privacy policies and terms of use, cellular practices, geolocation tracking, online content and speech, online torts, content take-downs, electronic surveillance statutory claims, and privacy.  She has consulted with government officials about wiretapping, computer and cellular searches, geolocation tracking, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). 

In her pro bono work, McKenna has represented and advised many victims of revenge porn and online stalking. In November 2015, she and co-counsel, Steve Kelly, won a significant free speech victory before the Supreme Court of Connecticut when it overturned a trial court’s entry of a defamation judgment against a murder victim’s family. She has also served as the principal legal consultant for the Police Foundation and the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing on the use of UAVs by domestic law enforcement.

McKenna’s published works include the four-volume wiretapping treatise, Wiretapping & Eavesdropping: Surveillance in the Internet Age, 3rd Ed., and the five-volume evidence treatise, Jones on Evidence, 7th Ed., both co-authored with Clifford S. Fishman and widely cited by federal and state courts.

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