Techdirt Creators & Guests

editrix! traveler btw worlds, space, time; reader, kindred spirit💌art+tech. ex Xerox PARC, Senior Editor WIRED; Editor in Chief @a16z & showrunner a16z Podcast.Sonal Chokshi is Editor in Chief at Andreessen Horowitz, aka "a16z", which she joined in early 2014. Among other things, this includes building the editorial operation and producing and hosting the popular a16z Podcast, which she grew in listenership more than 100X; it is consistently included in best-of lists and listed as one of the top podcasts in tech. She also assigned and edited hits such as "When One App Rules Them All" on the case study of WeChat in China, which was selected in the New York Times 2015 as one of the best long-form essays (for "brilliantly marrying psychology, intellect and technology"); edited a huge special package on 16 Things/trends from a16z; led production of the Crypto Canon, 16 metrics, Dell-EMC analysis, and others; launched the a16z newsletters; and much more. Before joining a16z, Sonal was a Senior Editor at WIRED, where she built up the previously flailing expert opinion/ideas section into one of the leading sections there. She was one of the first mainstream editors to feature then-emerging trends such as e-sports, ethereum, the 'sharing economy', and others. Besides editing a who's-who of top experts from various fields, Sonal also discovered key budding or unknown talents, many of whom have gone on to become even bigger successes. Her work at WIRED also started or shaped important conversations around the future of the internet, influenced tech policy, and more. Prior to that, Sonal directed content and community at Xerox PARC, where she went deep on domains such as automation, bioinformatics, bitcoin, cleantech, flexible electronics, microfluidics, natural language, networking, optoelectronics, ubiquitous computing, and many more. Before that, Sonal was doing graduate work in developmental/cognitive psychology at Columbia University's school of education, where she also worked as a researcher on NSF grants around teacher professional development and early numeracy. She studied English & Psychology at UCLA.

Jeremiah Johnson is an American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter.

Michael Masnick is the Founder of Techdirt.

Christopher J. Hooton is a journalist, podcaster, and filmmaker.Hooton began his career in journalism at Metro, before moving to The Independent, where he served was the culture editor and later the film and television critic-at-large. He then founded the film interview podcast, "Kernels," followed by the documentary podcast "Coffee & Flowers." His first directed film, "Meniscus," was released in 2018.

Co-founder of Epistemix

Dr. Mary Anne Franks is a legal scholar, author, activist, and media commentator. Currently, she is a Professor of Law and Chair at the University of Miami School of Law, where she teaches First Amendment law, Second Amendment law, criminal law, criminal procedure, family law, and law and technology. Her work focuses on online harassment, free speech, discrimination, and violence. She also serves as President and Legislative and Technology Policy Director of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative.Franks's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The Guardian, and she has been a regular contributor to The Huffington Post. She has appeared on CNN, the Today show, and Vice News.Franks is a co-producer of the documentary film, "Hot Girls Wanted," which was released in 2015. Her first book, "The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech," which won a gold medal at the 2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards as well as the 2020 Association of American Publishers PROSE Award for Legal Studies and Excellence in Social Sciences. Her second book, "Fearless Speech," was published in 2023.Franks received her B.A. in Philosophy and English Literature from Loyola University New Orleans, her M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Foreign Languages and Literatures from University of Oxford, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Tim O'Reilly is the founder of O'Reilly Media formerly known as O'Reilly & Associates. He popularized the terms "open source" and Web 2.0 and is known as a trend spotter in the world of tech and macro trends.

Esther Dyson (born 14 July 1951) is a Swiss-born American investor, journalist, author, businesswoman, commentator, and philanthropist. She is a leading angel investor focused on health care, open government, digital technology, biotechnology, and outer space. Dyson's career focuses on health and continues to invest in health and technology startups.

US lawyer/geek interested in tech, international law, civil liberties & their convergence.

Co-founder of Epistemix

Organizer & writer. Focused on the intersection of solidarity economics, tech, & digital commons — Internet Archive, DWeb, People's Open Net, Commons Network.

Marshall Kosloff is a Media Fellow at the Hudson Institute

Margaret Sullivan is a journalist, media columnist for The Washington Post, chief editor of the Buffalo News, and author of the book Ghosting The News.

Cory Efram Doctorow is a blogger, journalist, and science fiction author. He serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing.

Casey writes 'The Interface.'

Dr. Nirit Weiss-Blatt, Ph.D., is the Book Author of "The TECHLASH and Tech Crisis Communication." She is a Former Research Fellow at the University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Her expertise: the tech news field.

Alec Stapp is a Director of Technology Policy at Progressive Policy Institute (PPI)