Matthew Kugler

Dr. Matthew Kugler is a Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. His recent research has addressed deepfakes, biometric privacy, dark patterns, and survey evidence in federal cases.

Prior to joining Northwestern, Matthew completed a Ph.D. in Psychology and Social Policy at Princeton University, was a postdoctoral fellow and adjunct instructor in psychology at Lehigh University, and was awarded a JD with highest honors from the University of Chicago Law School. He also clerked for the Honorable Richard Posner on the Seventh Circuit. In his time at Northwestern, Professor Kugler has taught privacy, trademark, cybercrime, trade secret, and the intellectual property survey course. His academic email is matthew.kugler@law.northwestern.edu.

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Kugler also consults in the areas of privacy and trademark law. For consulting inquires, please email him at mbkugler@proton.me.

Publications

9/10s of the reason this "about me" page exists is to provide a place to link my publications.

Articles

True Threats, Public Safety, And Free Speech: An Empirical Analysis of Counterman’s Consequences, J. Crim. L. & Criminology (forthcoming) (with Jordan Birnholtz).
Can Consumers Protect Themselves Against Privacy Dark Patterns? 23 U.N.H. L. Rev. 243 (2025) (with Lior Strahilevitz, Marshini Chetty, Chirag Mahapatra & Yaretzi Ulloa).
The Right of Publicity Can Save Performers from Deepfake Armageddon, 39 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 783 (2024) (with Alice Preminger).
Public Perceptions Can Guide Regulation of Public Facial Recognition, 25 Colum. Sci. & Tech. L. Rev. 1 (2024).
Juror interpretations of metadata and content information: Implications for the Going Dark Debate, 9 J. of Cybersecurity 1 (2023) (with Anne Boustead).
Surveying Surveillance: A National Study of Police Department Surveillance Technologies, 54 Ariz. St. L. J. 103 (2022) (with Mariana Oliver).
Deepfake Privacy: Attitudes and Regulation, 116 Nw. U. L. Rev. 611 (2021) (with Carly Pace).
- Honorable Mention for the Order of the Coif’s 2022 Gasaway Faculty-Student Writing Award
Constitutional Pandemic Surveillance, 111 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 909 (2021) (with Mariana Oliver).
American Law Enforcement Response to COVID-19, 111 J. Crim. L. & Criminology Online (2021) (with Mariana Oliver, Jonathan Chu, and Nathan Lee).
Protecting Energy Privacy Across the Public/Private Divide, 72 Fla. L. Rev. 451 (2020) (with Meredith Hurley).
Taking Data Out of Context to Hyper-Personalize Ads: Crowdworkers' Privacy Perceptions and Decisions to Disclose Private Information, Proc. ACM SIGCHI Conf. Human Factors Computing Sys (CHI) (2020) (with Julia Hanson, Miranda Wei, Sophie Veys, Lior Strahilevitz, Blase Ur).
From Identification to Identity Theft: Public Perceptions of Biometric Privacy Harms, 10 U.C. Irvine L. Rev. 108 (2019).
Assessing the Empirical Upside of Personalized Criminal Procedure, 86 U. Chi. L. Rev. 489 (2019) (with Lior J. Strahilevitz) (symposium).
The Privacy Hierarchy: Trade Secret and Fourth Amendment Expectations, 104 Iowa L. Rev. 1223 (2019) (with Thomas H. Rousse).
The Myth of Fourth Amendment Circularity, 84 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1747 (2017) (with Lior J. Strahilevitz).
The Materiality of Sponsorship Confusion, 50 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1911 (2017).
Is Privacy Policy Language Irrelevant to Consumers? 45 J. Legal Stud. S69 (2016) (with Lior J. Strahilevitz).
Measuring Computer Use Norms, 84 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1568 (2016) (symposium).
Actual Expectations of Privacy, Fourth Amendment Doctrine, and the Mosaic Theory, 2015 Sup. Ct. Rev. 205 (2016) (with Lior J. Strahilevitz).
Must Torts Be Wrongs? An Empirical Perspective, 49 Wake Forest L. Rev., 1–45 (2014) (with John M. Darley, Larry M. Solan, & Joseph Sanders).
Comment, The Perceived Intrusiveness of Searching Electronic Devices at the Border: An Empirical Study, 81 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1165–1211 (2014).
Another Look at Moral Foundations Theory: Do Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation Explain Liberal-Conservative Differences in ‘‘Moral’’ Intuitions?, 27 Soc. Just. Res. 413–431 (2014) (with John T. Jost & Sharareh Noorbaloochi).
Differences in Punitiveness Across Three Cultures: A Test of American Exceptionalism in Justice Attitudes, 103 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 1071–1113 (2013) (with Friederike Funk, Judith Braun, Mario Gollwitzer, Aaron Kay, & John M. Darley).
Is it Wrong to Trade Stocks on the Basis of Non-Public Information? Public Views of the Morality of Insider Trading, 39 Fordham Urb. L.J. 451–484 (2012) (with Stuart Green).
Punitiveness Towards Users Of Illicit Drugs: A Disparity Between Actual and Perceived Attitudes, 24 Fed. Sent’g Rep. 217–221 (2012) (with John M. Darley).
Public Perceptions of White Collar Crime Culpability: Bribery, Perjury, and Fraud, 75 Law and Contemp. Probs. 33–60 (2012) (with Stuart Green).
People Believe They Have More Free Will Than Others, 107 Proc. Nat’l Acad. of Sci., 22469–74 (2010) (with Emily Pronin).
Group-Based Dominance and Opposition to Equality Correspond to Different Psychological Motives, 23 Soc. Just. Res. 117–155 (2010) (with Joel Cooper & Brian Nosek).
Doing Wrong Without Creating Harm, 7 J. Empirical Legal Stud. 30–63 (2010) (with John M. Darley, Larry M. Solan, & Joseph Sanders).
Community Perceptions of Theft Seriousness: A Challenge to Model Penal Code and English Theft Act Consolidation, 7 J. Empirical Legal Stud. 511–537 (2010) (with Stuart Green).
Still an American? Mortality Salience and Treatment of Suspected Terrorists, 40 J. Applied Soc. Psychol. 3130–47 (2010) (with Joel Cooper).
Trait-Focused Spin in Presidential Debates: Surviving the Kisses of Death, 30 Basic & Applied Soc. Psychol. 219–229 (2008) (with George R. Goethals).
Social Influence on Political Judgments: The Case of Presidential Debates, 28 Pol. Psychol. 165–192 (2007) (with Steven Fein & George R. Goethals).
Valuing Thoughts, Ignoring Behavior: The Introspection Illusion as a Source of the Bias Blind Spot, 43 J. Experimental Soc. Psychol. 565–578 (2007) (with Emily Pronin).

Chapters, Book Reviews, and Other Publications

Reference Guide on Survey Research, in Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence (National Research Council, 2025), Fourth Edition (with Shari Diamond and James Druckman)
Internet Surveys in Trademark Cases: Benefits, Challenges, and Solutions, in Trademark and Deceptive Advertising Surveys, 2nd edition (Shari Diamond and Jerre Swann, eds., 2022) (with R. Charles Henn).
Opinion, Does it hurt you if your face is tracked by technology?, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, November 27, 2018.
Opinion, Your phone knows where you've been, and the government wants to know too, Los Angeles Times, November 28, 2017 (with Sarah Schrup).
Review of by Jesper Ryberg and Julian Roberts (Eds.), Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books (November, 2014).
Cognitive Consistency, in Encyclopedia of Group Processes and Intergroup Relations (John M. Levine, & Michael A. Hogg eds., 2010) (with Joel Cooper).
The Unbearable Lightness of Debating: Performance Ambiguity and Social Influence, in 1 Leadership at the Crossroads: Psychology and Leadership 149–164 (Crystal L. Hoyt, George R. Goethals, & Donald R. Forsyth Eds., 2008) (with George R. Goethals).
Grant “Blinked”: Appraising Presidential Leadership, in The Values of Presidential Leadership 161–182 (Terry L. Price & J. Thomas Wren Eds., 2007) (with George R. Goethals).
The Digital Divide: The Role of Gender in Human Computer Interaction, in The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook 763–776 (Andrew Sears & Julie A. Jacko Eds., 2007) (with Joel Cooper).