Faculty bios: "Digital Life: Policy & Privacy Online"

Published: 
May 26 2009
Resource type: 
Faculty list

AMY WEBB is the principal digital media consultant at Webbmedia Group. For the past two and a half years, she has consulted with news organizations and journalism schools on how to adapt emerging technology and conducted hands-on newsroom training in multimedia journalism. She is also currently associated with the International Center for Journalists, where she creates training programs and seminars for journalists from around the world. She is a frequent speaker at media conferences and journalism workshops and blogs at mydigimedia.com. Previously, Ms. Webb was a reporter for Newsweek in Tokyo and Asia Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, covering business, technology, media and cultural trends. Ms. Webb also founded and edited Dragonfire, a non-profit, online news and culture magazine, and she has reported freelance stories for the New York Times, NPR, the Economist, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, among others. Ms. Webb holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in political economics from Indiana University-Bloomington. (267) 342-4300, amy@webbmediagroup.com

ALAN DAVIDSON is the director of public policy and government affairs for Google. Mr. Davidson opened Google's Washington, D.C., office in 2005. He has written and spoken widely on Internet policy issues, including privacy, free speech, encryption, network neutrality and online copyright. Prior to joining Google, he was associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a public interest group promoting Internet civil liberties. Since 2000, he has also served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's program in communications, culture and technology. Mr. Davidson started professional life as a computer scientist. He worked as a senior consultant at Booz-Allen & Hamilton, where he helped design information systems for NASA's Space Station Freedom. He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science and a master’s degree in technology and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a law degree from Yale Law School. (202) 346-1220, adavidson@google.com

BETH NOVECK is the deputy chief technology officer at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which is charged with providing the president scientific and technological analysis and judgment on major policies and programs of the federal government. Ms. Noveck is on leave from New York Law School, where she directed the Institute for Information Law & Policy. She is the author of the forthcoming book Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful. Her research focuses on online collaboration, e-democracy and virtual worlds. Ms. Noveck holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Harvard University, a law degree from Yale Law School and a Ph.D. from the University of Innsbruck in Austria, where she studied on a Fulbright grant. (202) 456-7367, bnoveck@ostp.eop.gov

DOUGLAS WHATLEY is the founder and CEO of BreakAway, Ltd., which develops game technology to solve real world problems in the military, healthcare, homeland security and corporate arenas. Mr. Whatley has over 20 years of game development and management experience in the interactive entertainment industry. He began his career at America Online where he helped create the AOL client/server infrastructure. After that, he held senior-level management positions at MicroProse, a software company specializing in flight simulation software; ABC Sports; and Disney, where he worked on software titles such as Darklands, Gunship 2000, Sid Meier's Civilization and ABC's Monday Night Football. Mr. Whatley was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for 2004 and was recognized as a Top 10 Cutting Edge Designer by Business Week in 2006. Contact: Lindsay Riehl, (410) 316-9293, lriehl@breakawayltd.com

MARK BAUERLEIN is a professor of English at Emory University. His latest book is The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future. He has taught at Emory since 1989, with a two-and-a-half-year break in 2003-05 to serve as the director of the Office of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts. Apart from his scholarly work, he publishes in popular periodicals such as the Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, Washington Post and Chronicle of Higher Education. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in English from the University of California-Los Angeles. (404) 441-5215, engmb@emory.edu

JOSE ZAMORA is a journalism program associate for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami. He joined the Knight Foundation in February 2007 as a communications assistant. Mr. Zamora, a journalist and former news executive with el Periódico in Guatemala City, has a law degree from Universidad Francisco Marroquín and a master's degree in public affairs from the University of Texas at Austin. (305) 908-2600, zamora@knightfoundation.org

DANIELLE CITRON is an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Law. Her interests are in the area of information privacy, cyberspace and administrative law, with an emphasis on legal issues surrounding the government’s reliance on information technologies. Her publications include “Law’s Expressive Value in Combating Cyber Gender Harassment,” “Civil Rights in the Information Age,” “Technological Due Process” and “Reservoirs of Danger: The Evolution of Public and Private Law at the Dawn of the Information Age.” Ms. Citron is also chairperson-elect for The Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Defamation and Privacy and a faculty advisor to The Journal of Business and Technology. Previously, she was a litigation associate for the law firm Willkie, Farr & Gallagher in New York. Ms. Citron holds a law degree from Fordham University and a bachelor’s degree from Duke University. (410) 706-3924, dcitron@law.umaryland.edu
WINN SCHWARTAU is an expert on information security, infrastructure protection and electronic privacy. He has written three books — two more forthcoming this year — on the subject of cyber security. Mr. Schwartau's most recent book, Cybershock (2000), is a non-technical look at hackers, hacking and how security affects families, companies and nations. He is also the author of Terminal Compromise, a novel about an information war waged on the United States. He has written op-eds for Wired, the New York Times and Information Week, among others, and is a frequent guest on television and radio. In addition, Mr. Schwartau is an active lecturer, who has been invited to speak at many of the government agencies working to combat cyberterrorism, and has testified in front of Congress. He is the founder and president of The Security Awareness Company and the founder of InfowarCon, an annual conference on information warfare. (727) 393-6600, Winn@alwayschaos.com

BROCK MEEKS is the director of communications for the Center for Democracy & Technology, a Washington-based non-profit that advocates for online freedom of expression, individual digital privacy and open access to the Internet. Previously, Mr. Meeks was an investigative journalist. For 10 years, he was the chief Washington correspondent for MSNBC.com, also appearing on television as a correspondent for MSNBC and NBC Nightly News. Mr. Meeks was also part of a special projects team that won several awards, including “Outstanding Use of Multimedia,” from the Online News Association. He was also a Washington correspondent for Wired magazine, a senior editor for Communications Daily, and a foreign correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle. Mr. Meeks attended the University of the Pacific. (202) 637-9800 x 114, brock@cdt.org

JAY STANLEY is the public education director for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Technology and Liberty Program. The program examines the interplay between emerging technologies and civil liberties, seeking to enhance privacy and freedom, while opposing invasive surveillance. Mr. Stanley has authored and co-authored several ACLU reports, including “Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains,” on the erosion of privacy protections, “The Surveillance Industrial Complex,” on the fusion of government surveillance and the private sector and “What’s Wrong With Fusion Centers,” the system set up for local, state and federal agencies to share anti-terrorism information—including private data—on individuals. Prior to joining the ACLU, Mr. Stanley was an analyst at Forrester, a technology research firm, where he focused on online privacy, taxation and antitrust issues. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Williams College and a master’s degree in American History from the University of Virginia. (202) 715-0818, JStanley@dcaclu.org

SCOTT O’NEAL is a deputy assistant director for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Division, where he oversees operations for the Computer Intrusion and Cyber Crimes programs. Mr. O’Neal has worked for the FBI since 1985, assigned to various criminal and national security investigations in the Norfolk, Va., New York, and Chicago field offices. In 1998, Mr. O’Neal was promoted to be a supervisory special agent at the FBI headquarters, and in 2001 became the White Collar Crime and Public Corruption coordinator in the Albuquerque, N.M., Division. In 2003, he was promoted to the position of assistant special agent in charge, responsible for the management of the Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, Cyber, and Intelligence Programs. Mr. O’Neal became chief of the computer intrusion section of the Cyber Division in 2007 and took up his current post in December 2008. Contact: Paul Bresson, FBI National Press Office, (202) 324-8783, paul.bresson@ic.fbi.gov

GEORGE KREST is a supervisory special agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He manages the agency’s Criminal Cyber Program at FBI headquarters. During his tenure he developed the Romanian Threat Focus Cell, a joint effort between the United States and Romania to combat cyber crime in both countries. In June 2002, Mr. Krest was selected as one of the investigators to initiate the Washington FBI Field Office’s first criminal cyber crime squad, and spent six years investigating criminal computer intrusion crimes including senior case agent on an undercover investigation targeting illegal botnets. He joined the FBI in 1996 and has worked on high profile foreign counter intelligence and foreign counter terrorism investigations including convicted spy and former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, the District of Columbia sniper case and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. As a former U.S. Army officer, part of his military service included a White House assignment providing tactical communications for the President. Mr. Krest has a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems from Texas A&M University. Contact: Paul Bresson, FBI National Press Office, (202) 324-8783, paul.bresson@ic.fbi.gov

CATHERINE DESROCHES is a survey researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and an instructor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on the effect of public opinion and knowledge on the health policy-making process and on how physicians and other healthcare providers shape health care policy at the organizational level. Her research has focused on the adoption of electronic health records, the utility of interventions to prevent medical errors and influence of medical liability. From 2006 to 2008, Dr. DesRoches was an investigator for the Department of Health and Human Services’ effort to develop a methodology for collecting data on the adoption and use of electronic health records. She holds a Ph.D. in public health from Columbia University, a master’s degree in public health from the University of Massachusetts and a bachelor’s degree from Emmanuel College. (617) 724-6958, cdesroches@partners.org

TED BRIDIS is the news editor for The Associated Press’ enterprise team in Washington, D.C. Mr. Bridis joined AP in 1989 in Oklahoma, before moving to Evansville, Ind., as a correspondent in 1995. Three years later, he joined AP’s Washington, D.C. bureau as a technology reporter, covering the Microsoft Corp. antitrust trial. He moved to the Wall Street Journal for 20 months, where he witnessed Flight 77 crash into the Pentagon, disclosed the FBI's use of its "Carnivore" Internet surveillance system and uncovered secret efforts by Oracle Corp.'s chief executive to pay private detectives to steal garbage from rival organizations he believed Microsoft was surreptitiously funding. Mr. Bridis returned to the AP in November 2001, where he covered the Justice Department and the FBI. Bridis has twice won the AP Managing Editors' National Enterprise award, and won AP's $10,000 Gramling Journalism Award in 2004. (202) 641-9462, tbridis@ap.org