Jonathan Zittrain named FCC Distinguished Scholar

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the appointment of Professor Jonathan Zittrain as the agency’s Distinguished Scholar.

He will be based in the Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis and will work on a range of issues related to 21st-century communications networks. He succeeds Stuart Benjamin, the commission’s first Distinguished Scholar in Residence.

FCC Chairman Genachowski said, “I am very pleased that Jonathan will be contributing. His deep expertise on Internet and broadband policy issues will be invaluable to the commission’s work.”

Zittrain is a professor of law at Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government, co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and professor of computer science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

He is a member of the board of trustees of the Internet Society and is on the board of advisers for Scientific American. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum, which has named him a Young Global Leader.

Previously, he was professor of Internet governance and regulation at Oxford University.

His research interests include issues related to digital property and content, cryptography, electronic privacy, and the roles of intermediaries within Internet architecture. His 2008 book The Future of the Internet—And How to Stop It focuses on the future of the now-intertwined Internet and PC.