Daniel J. Weitzner
Visiting Senior FellowDaniel J. Weitzner is founding director of the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative, principal research scientist at CSAIL, and teaches Internet public policy in MIT’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department. His research pioneered the development of accountable systems to enable computational treatment of legal rules. Weitzner was U.S. deputy chief technology officer for Internet policy in the White House, where he led initiatives on privacy, cybersecurity, copyright, and digital trade policies promoting the free flow of information. He was responsible for the Obama administration’s Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights and the OECD Internet Policymaking Principles.
Weitzner has been a leader in Internet public policy from its inception, making fundamental contributions to the successful fight for strong online free expression protection in the U.S. Supreme Court, and for laws that control government surveillance of email and web browsing data.
Weitzner is a founder of the Center for Democracy and Technology, led the World Wide Web Consortium’s public policy activities, and was deputy policy director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He is a recipient of the International Association of Privacy Professionals Leadership Award (2013) and of the Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award (2016), and is a member of Council on Foreign Relations.
