Michael Barrett, Chair

Michael Barrett is the chief information security officer for PayPal. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring the security of PayPal’s 149 million accounts worldwide. He oversees the information systems and services that protect the integrity and confidentiality of PayPal customer and employee information.

Before joining PayPal, Barrett was vice president of security and utility strategy at American Express, where he helped define the company’s information-security program and directed its Internet technology strategy.

Barrett was twice named one of the 50 most powerful people in networking by Network World magazine and was recently listed as one of ITSecurity.com’s 59 top influencers in the security industry. He is a certified information systems security professional (CISSP) and a certified information security manager (CISM). He graduated from Brighton University (U.K.), where he earned a bachelor of science degree in computer science.

John Palfrey, Treasurer

John Palfrey is Henry N. Ess Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School. He is the co-author of “Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives” (Basic Books, 2008) and “Access Denied: The Practice and Politics of Internet Filtering” (MIT Press, 2008). His research and teaching is focused on Internet law, intellectual property, and international law. He practiced intellectual property and corporate law at the law firm of Ropes & Gray. He is a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Outside of Harvard Law School, he is a Venture Executive at Highland Capital Partners and serves on the board of several technology companies and non-profits. John served as a special assistant at the US EPA during the Clinton Administration. He is a graduate of Harvard College, the University of Cambridge, and Harvard Law School.

Ari Schwartz, Secretary

Ari Schwartz is the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). Schwartz’s work focuses on increasing individual control over personal and public information. He promotes privacy protections in the digital age and expanding access to government information via the Internet. He regularly testifies before Congress and Executive Branch Agencies on these issues.

Schwartz also leads the Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), a group of anti-spyware software companies, academics, and public interest groups dedicated to defeating spyware. In 2006, Schwartz won the RSA award for Excellence in Public Policy for his work building the ASC and other efforts against spyware. He was also named one of the Top 5 influential IT security thinkers of 2007 by Secure Computing Magazine.

Schwartz currently serves as a member of the Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board and the State of Ohio Chief Privacy Officer Advisory Committee.

Vinton G. Cerf

Vinton G. Cerf has served as vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google since October 2005. In this role, he is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of advanced, Internet-based products and services from Google. He is also an active public face for Google in the Internet world.

Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. Kahn and Cerf were named the recipients of the ACM Alan M. Turing award in 2004 for their work on the Internet protocols. The Turing award is sometimes called the ‘Nobel Prize of Computer Science.’ In November 2005, President George Bush awarded Cerf and Kahn the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work. The medal is the highest civilian award given by the United States to its citizens. In April 2008, Cerf and Kahn received the prestigious Japan Prize.

Vint Cerf served as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) from 2000-2007. Cerf also served as founding president of the Internet Society from 1992-1995 and in 1999 served a term as chairman of the Board. In addition, Cerf is honorary chairman of the IPv6 Forum, dedicated to raising awareness and speeding introduction of the new Internet protocol.

Esther Dyson

Esther Dyson is currently training to be a cosmonaut in Start City outside Moscow; she is a backup to Charles Simonyi, who will be flying 25 March 2009.

She sold her business, EDventure Holdings, to CNET Networks in early 2004. Previously, she had co-owned EDventure and written/edited Release 1.0 since 1983. She led CNET networks’ Anti-Spyware workshop, and accompanied it with a comprehensive report about four leading adware companies (only one of which is still active).

Aside from space training, her primary activity is investing in start-ups and guiding many of them as a board member. To that end, she travels broadly and speaks four languages (English, Russian, French and German.) Her board seats include 23andMe, Airship Ventures, Boxbe, CVO Group (Hungary), Eventful.com, Evernote, IBS Group (Russia, advisory board), Meetup, NewspaperDirect, Voxiva, Yandex (Russia) and WPP Group (not a start-up).

Dyson is also an active player in discussions and international policy-making concerning the Internet and society. From 1998 to 2000, she was founding chairman of ICANN (the organization responsible for overseeing the Domain Name System. A variety of government officials worldwide turn to her for advice on Internet policy issues. In 1997, she wrote a book on the impact of the Net on individuals’ lives, Release 2.0: A design for living in the digital age. She also donates time and money as a trustee to the Sunlight Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the Eurasia Foundation. She was chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation for several years. She has a degree from Harvard in economics.

Mike Shaver

As Vice President, Engineering, of Mozilla, Mike leads the “Web’s best engineering team” (his words) to produce new technologies and products in support of Mozilla’s mission: promoting choice and innovation on the Web. Mike Shaver is a founding member of the Mozilla project, and has been involved since its inception in aspects ranging from software development and architecture to governance and licensing. In addition to his decade of work on Mozilla, Mike has worked on the Linux kernel, high-performance filesystems, privacy technology, electronic cash prototypes, and large-scale Web applications. He is a frequent speaker and advisor to open source projects and companies, and a passionate advocate for the Open Web. Mike received an honorary degree from Seneca College in 2008, and lives in Toronto with his wife and daughter.

Maxim Weinstein, President & Executive Director

Maxim Weinstein has been leading StopBadware since 2007. He has spoken on malware policy and user education at conferences hosted by the Federal Trade Commission, the Anti-Spyware Coalition, and the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group. He also serves on the Massachusetts Educational Technology Advisory Council, the advisory board of the Anti Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO), the K-12 working group of the National Cyber Security Alliance, and the IEEE ICSG malware working group. In 2009, he was recognized by SC Magazine as one of the year’s “information security luminaries.”

Prior to joining StopBadware, Maxim worked in a variety of positions involving technology, communications, education, and leadership across a range of industries. Most recently, he served as technology director and national management team member of Year Up, a Fast Company Social Capital Award winner.

Maxim is a graduate of Tufts University, from which he earned a master’s degree in teaching and a bachelor’s degree in quantitative economics and environmental studies.