18th Annual BCLT Privacy Lecture: Blanket Opt-Outs
Wednesday, November 19, 2025 @ 3:30 pm - 6:30 pm
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Wednesday, November 19 | 3:30 PM
Booth Auditorium, UC Berkeley Law
Suppose that a consumer has the legal right to opt out of receiving certain communications, being tracked across the Internet by advertisers, or having their personal data transferred from one company to another. Should consumers be able to opt out once—and have that choice honored across all companies—or must they repeat the process endlessly, playing “opt-out Whac-a-Mole”? This lecture explores how the law inconsistently treats blanket opt-outs across privacy, arbitration, and AI training contexts. We’ll examine when blanket opt-outs work, why they fail elsewhere, and where legal reforms or private-sector solutions may offer a path forward.
Lior Jacob Strahilevitz
Sidley Austin Professor of Law
Lior Strahilevitz received his BA in political science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1996, graduating with highest honors. He received his JD in 1999 from Yale Law School, where he served as Executive Editor of the Yale Law Journal. Following his graduation, he clerked for Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He then practiced law in Seattle before joining the law school faculty in 2002. He was tenured in 2007 and served as the Law School’s Deputy Dean from 2010 to 2012. In 2011, he was named the inaugural Sidley Austin Professor of Law. He was elected to the American Law Institute in 2015. He is a two-time winner of the Law School graduating students’ award for teaching excellence.
Professor Strahilevitz’s teaching and research interests include property and land use, privacy, law and technology, and consumer contracts.
Commentators:
Lindsey Tonsegar, Partner, Covington & Burling
Paul Schwartz, Jefferson E. Peyser Professor of Law, UC Berkeley Law/BCLT
CLE will be offered.
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Events are wheelchair accessible. For disability-related accommodations, contact the organizer of the event. Advance notice is kindly requested.
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