Sascha Meinrath

Sascha Meinrath is the Palmer Chair in Telecommunications at Penn State and director of X-Lab, an innovative think tank focusing on the intersection of vanguard technologies and public policy. Professor Meinrath is a renowned technology policy expert and is internationally recognized for his work over the past two decades as a community internet pioneer, social entrepreneur, and angel investor.

Prior to founding X-Lab, Meinrath was vice president of the New America Foundation, where he founded the Open Technology Institute in 2008 and built it into one of the largest public interest tech policy organizations in Washington, D.C. He also founded the Commotion Wireless Project, which works around the globe to strengthen communities by providing tools to build their own local communications infrastructures, and co-founded Measurement Lab, a global online platform for researchers to deploy Internet measurement tools that empower the public and key decision-makers with useful information about broadband connectivity.

Professor Meinrath was elected as an Ashoka Fellow for Social Entrepreneurship in 2012, and has been named to the Time Magazine “Tech 40” as one of the most influential figures in technology, to the “Top 100” in Newsweek's Digital Power Index, and is a recipient of the Public Knowledge IP3 Award for excellence in public interest advocacy. He is widely published in both academic and media outlets, including Critical Studies in Media Communications, International Journal of Communications, Journal of Communications Law and Policy, Journal of Internet Law, Journal for Community Informatics, IEEE Internet Computing Magazine, IEEE Spectrum, Foreign Policy, The Hill, Time Magazine, Politico, Slate, The Guardian and many others.

Mr. Meinrath has been a vocal public intellectual and a leading voice calling for accountability over the governmental spying programs, and is at the forefront of D.C. policy debates over how Congress and the White House should rein in the cybersecurity-industrial complex. He serves as a board member for the American Indian Policy Institute, Brave New Software Foundation; Defending Rights and Dissent Foundation; Acorn Active Media Foundation; and Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the advisory councils for the Calyx Institute, FreedomBox Foundation, Loomio, and Whistleblower Aid.

Meinrath’s research focuses on broadband connectivity, distributed communications, Digital Feudalism, Digital Craftsmanship, telecommunications and spectrum policy, cybersecurity and privacy, and the impacts of disruptive technology, and is a testament to his lifelong commitment to promoting social and economic justice -- values he embraced while attending a rough inner-city school in New Haven, Connecticut. The son of an immigrant from Brazil, Meinrath has four vivacious daughters and he and his partner, Stephanie, split their time between State College, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.

• VIDEO: "Privacy, Profiles & Profits: Protecting Yourself from Problematic Tech"
• VIDEO: "Challenges of Artificial Intelligence: Balancing Threat and Benefit"
• PODCAST: A Conversation with Sascha Meinrath

• Defending Rights & Dissent welcomes Jeffrey Sterling to Board of Directors
• PA may be breaking the law with broadband plan
• Pennsylvania once again shows what broadband corruption looks like
• The bad business of BEAD
• FCC's broadband map gets another look from Pa. Broadband Authority
• Internet service has ‘nutrition labels’ now. Here’s how to use them.
• How much? How Fast? new broadband labels rolling out nationwide
• From Labels to Legislation: Experts Address Barriers to Informed Choice
• The mission to get Pennsylvanians online
• EXPERT OPINION: Sascha Meinrath: 12 gigahertz band is key to bridging the digital divide
• FCC’s “Nutrition Label for Broadband” falls short of transparency
• Will $1.2B be enough to get all of Pennsylvania online?
• Experts: Pennsylvania missed identifying thousands of unserved internet areas
• Broadband access for all starts with transparent data
• Resource-starved smaller Pa. counties are losing out on federal broadband aid
• Hotel WiFi can be terrible. Here are four tips to deal with it.
• Don’t do that. Four mistakes you’re making on the internet.
• National broadband rollout has blind spot: Lack of accurate, transparent data about internet access speeds
• We need more data transparency around internet access speeds
• The Broadband Deception: Accurate Speed Data
• The national broadband rollout lacks accurate data about internet speeds
• New maps will help decide where up to $1 billion in federal money goes for Pa. broadband expansion
• Uneven broadband access fostering inequality, panelists say
• Russian internet users are learning how to beat Putin's internet crackdown
• Digital Redlining or Digital Divides
• Rural PA in need of significant broadband improvement, data shows
• The coronavirus pandemic is breaking the internet
• U.S.'s digital divide 'is going to kill people' as Covid-19 exposes inequalities
• With everyone on the internet, access can be an issue
• Rural broadband in the time of coronavirus
• Philly Fed report exposes digital divide for minority, poor and rural communities
• FCC ‘coloring outside the lines’ on broadband mapping
• Major changes in scope, funding of central Pa. broadband projects over past year
• Do you pay too much for internet service? See how your bill compares
• Broadband companies say 5G will change the world. Will it?
• The erosion of privacy, and why we need a new social contract
• State Senate committee completes hearings on internet access
• Report challenges internet providers' advertised speeds
• FCC plans to redo flawed broadband mapt
• FCC and internet providers need to improve broadband mapping, say experts
• Rural internet firm says Comcast messes up its bill every month
• Study finds lack of connectivity is bad for small businesses in rural PA
• A team of researchers just showed how the FCC wastes billions on rural broadband
• Penn State finds digital divide wider than reported for broadband internet in rural Pa.
• Trump’s ban on U.S. companies supplying Huawei will not make the country safer
• Study: Pennsylvania broadband speeds far slower than federal estimates
• ‘Staggering’ discrepancy in Pa. between rural and urban broadband coverage, study finds
• FCC thinks T-Mobile, Sprint merger will bridge digital divide, accelerate 5G
• Penn State represented at Pennsylvania 'influencers' summit on rural broadband
• State College panel discusses broadband internet solutions, urges public-private collaboration
• Pennsylvania regional leaders weigh in on push for broadband
• The Cybersecurity 202: Nielsen's departure will hurt DHS cybersecurity mission, experts say
• Feds partner with South Carolina prison for cellphone jamming test
• Pennsylvania leaders take on state's rural broadband crisis
• The Cybersecurity 202: Trump gave the military freer rein for offensive hacking. Security experts say that’s a good idea.
• Committee speaks with telecommunications chair
• Penn State study says most of Pa. lacks access to high-speed broadband
• Prisons want cell phone jammers to stop inmates from communicating with the outside world
• PUC wants to know: How fast is your internet?
• FCC inaccurately collects data on broadband access in Tribal Lands
• Broadband deployment is not moving fast enough for rural Americans, critics say
• Penn State prof aims to pinpoint state broadband gaps
• Study a step forward for broadband
• Statewide research aims to more accurately evaluate broadband availability in Pa.
• Faculty member studying broadband access, impact
• Can the FBI really see you through your laptop camera?
• Penn State to host Startup Week featuring entrepreneurship panels, student competitions
• Congress is debating warrantless surveillance in the dark
• AUDIO: U.S. voting problems
• With FCC’s net neutrality ruling, the US could lose its lead in online consumer protection
• Faculty Academy embarks on research projects to enhance academic environment
• Remind me: What's net neutrality again?
• A Broadcom-Qualcomm deal would face a regulatory minefield
• Two big problems with American voting that have nothing to do with Russian hacking
• A bold, bipartisan plan to return the US to the vanguard of 21st-century technological innovation
• Payment processors are profiling heavy metal fans as terrorists
• Net Neutrality explained: "Imagine internet is pizza ..."
• UPDATE: The American dystopia didn't begin with Trump
• Street sensors and cameras In Pennsylvania
• A 40-year 'conspiracy' at the VA
• Cybersecurity gets new focus for Penn State students, faculty
• Opinion: Obama's surveillance legacy
• Experts tell how to avoid identity theft
• Opinion: The FCC needs to end warrantless cellphone spying
• States most vulnerable to identity theft and fraud
• Opinion: Driverless cars need an off switch
• A progressive tech platform for the 99 percent
• Inaugural event seeks to put library issues on next administration's agenda
• Burr-Feinstein antiencryption bill a firing offense
• Faculty expert invited to discuss future of Library of Congress
• Cheetah Mobile: Data security Issues and ties to Chinese corporations pose risk to Chinese app makers’ access to app marketplaces
• American Indian Policy Institute forms, appoints board of directors
• In fight on terror, encryption is double-edged sword
• Behind Comcast's new data cap
• Opinion: The troubling Stuxnet effect
• Opinion: Why the information sharing bill is anti-cybersecurity
• Hacking inquiry finds a trail despite efforts to cover it up
• NSA surveillance debate gives rise to bipartisan Civil Liberties Coalition
• The real winners in the fight over governmentsurveillance
• Verified broadband speeds needed to understand impact of coronavirus on internet networks
• Schools are some families’ best hope for Internet access, but Virginia laws are getting in the way
• What the coronavirus tells us about the digital divide
• The Cybersecurity 202: Get ready for encryption fireworks in Congress today
• Rural residents willing to pay for broadband
• FCC awards $369 million to expand broadband access for Pennsylvania's rural residents
• COVID relief brings more broadband funding to PA, but it’s ‘tip of the iceberg’ of what’s needed
• How can President Biden help rural America? Fix the internet
• Penn State Extension, PUC partnership instrumental in expanding broadband access
• After pressure from advocates, Comcast boosts internet speed for low-income users
• Internet connectivity isn’t just a geographic issue
• PA Senate Democrats joined House Democrats for net neutrality policy hearing
• Meinrath is 2021 recipient of Faculty Outreach Award
• Nearly two thirds of cybersecurity experts think Biden response to Russian hack is sufficient
• Apple, Google raise new concerns by yanking Russian app
• 12GHz spectrum is the tool we need to help bridge the digital divide