Professor Jonathan Zittrain will be FCC Distinguished Scholar

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski appointed Professor Jonathan Zittrain the be 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 Professor Stuart Benjamin from Duke University School of Law as the Commission’s first Distinguished Scholar.

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. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society and is on the board of advisors 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. Professor Zittrain will serve as the FCC's Distinguished Scholar while continuing his teaching and scholarship at Harvard.