The Mozilla Tech Policy Fellowship brings together tech policy experts from around the world to participate in policy efforts to improve the health of the Internet. Find more details about the fellowship here.
Tech Policy Fellows
Alan Davidson will work to produce a census of major Internet policy risks and will engage in advocacy and educational strategy to minimize those risks. Alan is also a Fellow at New America in Washington, D.C. Until January 2017, he served as the first Director of Digital Economy at the U.S. Department of Commerce and a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce. Prior to joining the department, Davidson was the director of the Open Technology Institute at New America. Earlier, Davidson opened Google’s Washington policy office in 2005 and led the company’s public policy and government relations efforts in North and South America. He was previously Associate Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology. Alan 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 (MIT). He is a graduate of Yale Law School.
Amina Fazlullah will work to promote policies that support broadband connectivity in rural and vulnerable communities in the United States. Amina joins the fellowship from her most recent role as Policy Advisor to the National Digital Inclusion Alliance where she led efforts to develop policies that support broadband deployment, digital inclusion, and digital equity efforts across the United States. Amina has worked on a broad range of Internet policy issues including Universal Service, consumer protection, antitrust, net neutrality, spectrum policy and children's online privacy. She has testified before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Commerce, and Federal Trade Commission. Amina was formerly the Benton Foundation's Director of Policy in Washington, D.C., where she worked to further government policies to address communication needs of vulnerable communities. Before that, Amina worked with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, for the Honorable Chief Judge James M. Rosenbaum of the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, and at the Federal Communications Commission. She is graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School and Pennsylvania State University.
Camille Fischer will be working to promote individual rights to privacy, security, and free speech on the Internet. In the last year of the Obama Administration, Camille led the National Economic Council’s approach to consumers’ economic and civil rights on the Internet and in emerging technologies. She represented consumers’ voices in discussions with other federal agencies regarding law enforcement access to data, including encryption and international law enforcement agreements. She has run commercial privacy and security campaigns, like the BuySecure Initiative to increase consumers’ financial security, and also worked to promote an economic voice within national security policy and to advocate for due process protections within surveillance and digital access reform. Before entering the government as a Presidential Management Fellow, Camille graduated from Georgetown University Law Center where she wrote state legislation for the privacy-protective commercial use of facial recognition technology. Camille is also an amateur photographer in D.C.
Caroline Holland will be working to to promote a healthy internet by exploring current competition issues related to the Internet ecosystem. Caroline served most recently as Chief Counsel for Competition Policy and Intergovernmental Relations at the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division. In that role, she was involved in several high-profile matters while overseeing the Division’s competition policy and advocacy efforts, interagency policy initiatives, and congressional relations. Caroline previously served as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee where she advised the committee chairmen on a wide variety of competition issues related to telecommunications, technology, and intellectual property. Before taking on this role, she was a counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee and an attorney in private practice focusing on public policy and regulatory work. Caroline holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. in Public Policy from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Between college and law school, Caroline served in the Antitrust Division as an honors paralegal and as Clerk of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee.
Amba Kak will work to understand how India's experience with protecting the open Internet can inform the global debate and will bring comparative insights to ongoing policy processes in India. Amba joins the fellowship from her previous role as legal consultant at the National Institute of Public Finance & Policy where she conducted research and advised governmental departments on telecom policy. Before that, Amba organized advocacy campaigns on transparency and legal aid as coordinator of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information. She was also a researcher to the High Level Committee constituted by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, where she worked on legal and constitutional issues. Amba holds a degree in law from the National University of Juridical Science, Kolkata, and attended the University of Oxford on the Rhodes Scholarship, where she completed a Bachelor in Civil Law as well as the Master of Science in Social Science of the Internet from the Oxford Internet Institute. Amba was awarded the Google Policy Fellowship, where she worked with CIS Bangalore to study the legal landscape around digital distribution of music.
Linet Kwamboka will work on understanding the policies that guide data collection and dissemination in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda). Through this, she aims to publish policy recommendations on existing policies, proposed policy amendments, and a report outlining her findings. Linet is the Founder and CEO of DataScience LTD, which builds information systems to generate and use data to discover intelligent insights about people, products, and services for resource allocation and decision making. She was previously the Kenya Open Data Initiative Project Coordinator for the Government of Kenya at the Kenya ICT Authority. Linet is also a director of the World Data Lab–Africa, working to make data personal, tangible and actionable to help citizens make better informed choices about their lives. She also consults with the UNDP in the Strengthening Electoral Processes in Kenya Project, offering support to the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission in information systems and technology. She has worked at the World Bank as a GIS and Technology Consultant and was a Software Engineering Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. Her background is in computer science, data analysis, and Geographical Information Systems. Linet is a recognized unsung hero by the American Embassy in Kenya in her efforts to encourage more women into technology and computing, has been a finalist in the Bloomberg award of global open data champions and is a member of the Open Data Institute Global Open Data Leaders’ Network.
Terah Lyons will work on advancing policy and governance around the future of machine intelligence, with a specific focus on coordination in international governance of AI. Her work targets questions related to the responsible development and deployment of AI and machine learning, including how society can minimize the risks of AI while maximizing its benefits, and what AI development and advanced automation means for humankind across cultural and political boundaries. Terah is a former Policy Advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). She most recently led a policy portfolio in the Obama Administration focused on machine intelligence, including AI, robotics, and intelligent transportation systems. In her work at OSTP, Terah helped establish and direct the White House Future of Artificial Intelligence Initiative, oversaw robotics policy and regulatory matters, led the Administration’s work from the White House on civil and commercial unmanned aircraft systems/drone integration into the U.S. airspace system, and advised on Federal automated vehicles policy. She also advised on issues related to diversity and inclusion in the technology industry and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Prior to her work at the White House, Terah was a Fellow with the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences based in Cape Town, South Africa. She is a graduate of Harvard University, where she currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Alumni Association.
Marilia Monteiro will be analyzing consumer protection and competition policy to contribute to the development of sustainable public policies and innovation. From 2013-15, she was Policy Manager at the Brazilian Ministry of Justice’s Consumer Office coordinating public policies for the consumer protection in digital markets and law enforcement actions targeting ISP and Internet application. She has researched the intersection between innovation technologies and society in different areas: current democratic innovations in Latin America regarding e-participation at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung and the development of public policies on health privacy and data protection at the "Privacy Brazil" project with the Internet Lab in partnership with Ford Foundation in Brazil. She is a board member at Coding Rights, a Brazilian-born, women-led, think-and-do tank and active in Internet Governance fora. Marilia holds a Master in Public Policy from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin focusing on policy analysis, a bachelor in Law from Fundação Getulio Vargas School of Law in Rio de Janeiro and specialises in digital rights.
Jason Schultz will analyze the impacts and effects of new technologies such as artificial intelligence/machine learning and the Internet of Things through the lenses of consumer protection, civil liberties, innovation, and competition. His research aims to help policymakers navigate these important legal concerns while still allowing for open innovation and for competition to thrive. Jason is a Professor of Clinical Law, Director of NYU's Technology Law & Policy Clinic, and Co-Director of the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy. His clinical projects, research, and writing primarily focus on the ongoing struggles to balance traditional areas of law such as intellectual property, consumer protection, and privacy with the public interest in free expression, access to knowledge, civil rights, and innovation in light of new technologies and the challenges they pose. During the 2016-2017 academic year, Jason was on leave at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he served as Senior Advisor on Innovation and Intellectual Property to former U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith. With Aaron Perzanowski, he is the author of The End of Ownership: Personal Property in the Digital Economy (MIT Press 2016), which argues for retaining consumer property rights in a marketplace that increasingly threatens them. Prior to joining NYU, Jason was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at the UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). Before joining Boalt Hall, he was a Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and before that practiced intellectual property law at the firm of Fish & Richardson, PC. He also served as a clerk to the Honorable D. Lowell Jensen of the Northern District of California. He is a member of the American Law Institute.
Gigi Sohn will be working to promote an open Internet in the United States. She is one of the nation’s leading public advocates for open, affordable, and democratic communications networks. Gigi is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and an Open Society Foundations Leadership in Government Fellow. For nearly 30 years, Gigi has worked across the United States to defend and preserve the fundamental competition and innovation policies that have made broadband Internet access more ubiquitous, competitive, affordable, open, and protective of user privacy. Most recently, Gigi was Counselor to the former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, who she advised on a wide range of Internet, telecommunications and media issues. Gigi was named by the Daily Dot in 2015 as one of the “Heroes Who Saved the Internet” in recognition of her role in the FCC’s adoption of the strongest-ever net neutrality rules. Gigi co-founded and served as CEO of Public Knowledge, the leading communications policy advocacy organization. She was previously a Project Specialist in the Ford Foundation’s Media, Arts and Culture unit and Executive Director of the Media Access Project, the first public interest law firm in the communications space. Gigi holds a B.S. in Broadcasting and Film, Summa Cum Laude, from the Boston University College of Communication and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Cori Zarek is the Senior Fellow leading the Tech Policy Fellows team and serving as a liaison with the Mozilla Foundation. Her work as a fellow will focus on the intersection of tech policy and transparency. Before joining Mozilla, Cori was Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer at the White House where she led the team's work to build a more digital, open, and collaborative government. Cori also coordinated U.S. involvement with the global Open Government Partnership, a 75-country initiative driving greater transparency and accountability around the world. Previously, she was an attorney at the U.S. National Archives, working on open government and freedom of information policy. Before joining the U.S. government, Cori was the Freedom of Information Director at The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press where she assisted journalists with legal issues, and she also practiced for a Washington law firm. Cori received her B.A. from the University of Iowa where she was editor of the student-run newspaper, The Daily Iowan. Cori also received her J.D. from the University of Iowa where she wrote for the Iowa Law Review and The Des Moines Register. She was inducted into the Freedom of Information Hall of Fame in 2016. Cori is also the President of the D.C. Open Government Coalition and teaches a media law class at American University.
Mozilla Tech Policy Fellowship Advisory Board
In June, Mozilla launched a new fellowship that brings together policy experts from around the world to advance crucial tech efforts to keep the Internet open and freely accessible to all. To give guidance and support to the fellows, Mozilla formed an Advisory Board comprised of some of the world's greatest experts and supporters of a free and open Internet:
Tech Policy Fellowship Advisory Board Members
Celina Beatriz has a Master's Degree in Human Rights from Harvard University and Undergraduate Degree in Law from Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio). She is an expert on human rights and technology. She was a researcher at the Human Rights Watch in New York and a Supervisor at the Human Rights Clinic in Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV Rio). Celina was a consultant for the Harvard Human Rights Clinic and a researcher at ISER. An Associate of the Children's and Adolescent's Rights Protection in Rio de Janeiro. Celina is currently developing research in the human rights and technology field. She is Project Director at the Institute for Technology & Society of Rio de Janeiro (ITS Rio).
Malavika Jayaram is the Executive Director of Digital Asia Hub, an independent, non-profit Internet and society research think tank based in Hong Kong, incubated by The Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. A practising technology lawyer for over 15 years, she spent 8 years in London, with global law firm Allen & Overy in the Communications, Media & Technology group, and as Vice President and Technology Counsel at Citigroup. While a partner at Jayaram & Jayaram, India, she was featured in the International Who’s Who of Internet e-Commerce & Data Protection Lawyers, and voted one of India’s leading lawyers.
Malavika taught India’s first course on information technology and law in 1997, and is now Adjunct Faculty at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law: part of the Master of Science in Law program bridging STEM subjects and the law. She has been a Fellow with the Centre for Internet & Society, India, since 2009, when she helped start their privacy work. She is on the Advisory Board of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and the Executive Committee of the IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems.
Ronaldo Lemos is an internationally respected Brazilian scholar and commentator on technology, intellectual property and culture. He is a director of the Institute for Technology & Society of Rio de Janeiro (ITS Rio) and professor of law and innovation at the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ). He holds law degrees from University of Sao Paulo Law School and Harvard Law and has published a number of books and journal articles. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He has served as the project lead of Creative Commons Brazil since 2003. He is a non-resident visiting scholar with the MIT Media Lab and was a visiting fellow at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) in 2011 and 2012. Lemos is a founder of Overmundo, for which he received the Prix Ars ElectronicaGolden Nica in the category of digital communities. Lemos was one of the creators of the Marco Civil, a law enacted in 2014 regulating the internet in Brazil, protecting civil rights, privacy and net neutrality. In 2015 he was appointed a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In 2016 he was appointed a fellow with Ashoka. Lemos serves as a board member in various organizations, such as the Mozilla Foundation and Access Now.
Alexander Macgillivray, also know as "amac," is curious about many things including law, policy, government, decision making, the Internet, algorithms, social justice, access to information, and the intersection of all of those. He was United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer for the last two years of the Obama Administration. He was Twitter's General Counsel, and head of Corporate Development, Public Policy, Communications, and Trust & Safety. Before that he was Deputy General Counsel at Google and created the Product Counsel team. He has served on the board of the Campaign for the Female Education (CAMFED) USA, was one of the early Berkman Klein Center folks, was certified as a First Grade Teacher by the State of New Jersey, and studied Reasoning & Decision Making as an undergraduate. These days he is doing a bunch of coding, writing, and short burst projects with organizations thinking about what they should be doing next.
Bitange Ndemo is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi’s Business School. His research centers on the link between ICTs and small and medium enterprises in Kenya with an emphasis on how ICTs influence economic development in Kenya. Prof. Ndemo is an advisor to several organizations including the Better than Cash Alliance, a global initiative under UNCDF dedicated to promotion of cash alternatives; the I-Hub, a premier innovation hub in Africa. He also sits in the Board of Research ICT Africa that is based in South Africa. He is a former Permanent Secretary of Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communication in Kenya where he was credited with facilitating many transformative ICT projects. After years of developing the supply-side of broadband, he has now changed gears to demand-side through assisting start-ups in Africa and actively playing a key role in building sustainable models of innovation hubs. Prof. Ndemo holds a PhD in Industrial Economics from the University of Sheffield in the UK a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from University of St. Thomas. He is an Open Data/Big Data evangelist and dedicated to simplification (visualization) of data for ordinary citizens to consume.
Rinalia Abdul Rahim is Managing Director and Chairman of Compass Rose Sdn Bhd. She has 20 years of experience in international development and ICT policy where she focuses on the issues of access, empowerment and governance. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). From 2001-2008 she was Executive Director of the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), which she successfully positioned as the world’s first and leading multistakeholder initiative that promoted knowledge and ICT for Development (ICT4D).
From 1997-2001 she worked with the Malaysian Government in developing national ICT policies, strategies and programmes. Some of the strategies and framework were promoted as best practices by the United Nations Development Programme and were adopted by many developing countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She has held various advisory positions with international, regional and national bodies including agencies of the United Nations. She holds a Master in Public Policy Degree from Harvard University and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Princeton University. She is certified in Corporate Governance by INSEAD. Raised in Malaysia, she has lived in the USA, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Singapore. She currently resides in Germany.
Nicole Wong specializes in assisting high-growth technology companies to develop international privacy and regulatory strategies. She previously served as Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer in the Obama Administration, focused on internet, privacy, and innovation policy. Prior to her time in government, Nicole was Google’s Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, and Twitter’s Legal Director for Products. She frequently speaks on issues related to law and technology, including five appearances before the U.S. Congress. Nicole chairs the board of Friends of Global Voices, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting citizen and online media projects globally. She also sits on the boards of WITNESS, an organization supporting the use of video to advance human rights, and the Mozilla Foundation, which promotes the open internet. Nicole currently serves as an advisor to the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard Business School Digital Initiative, the Democratic National Committee Cybersecurity Advisory Board, Refactor Capital, and the Albright Stonebridge Group.