Marvin Ammori

Marvin Ammori

Fellow at the New America Foundation, Lawyer at The Ammori Group
Joined on April 4, 2013
Total Post Views: 47,335

About

Marvin Ammori is a thought leader in law and public advocacy, best known for his work opposing SOPA, defending network neutrality, and encouraging STEM education. Time Magazine calls him “a prominent First Amendment lawyer and Internet policy expert” and the San Jose Mercury News calls him “a well-known advocate for Internet freedom.” He has published articles in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Wired, Slate, and Forbes, and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NPR, and other TV and radio outlets. He recently authored the short book On Internet Freedom; his law review articles exploring First Amendment doctrine and theory are assigned in some of the nation’s top law schools, including Harvard and Georgetown. He is also an international speaker, keynoting events in Europe, Asia, and both US coasts.

He is currently a 2013 Bernard L. Schwartz Fellow at the New America Foundation, one of the nation’s most prominent think tanks. He also serves on the boards of the nonprofit advocacy groups Fight for the Future and Demand Progress and also on the Steering Committee of Engine Advocacy, a national organization that gives startups a voice in DC . In private practice, in specific matters, he has represented several companies and coalitions including Google, eBay, Automattic, and others.

For the past decade, as an lawyer, he has been involved in many of the most important and prominent public policy issues concerning the Internet’s future. While serving as the general counsel for the advocacy group Free Press in 2008, he authored the seminal network-neutrality complaint against Comcast for interfering with the use of BitTorrent software and led the case from its inception to conclusion. In 2011 and 2012, he played an instrumental role in opposing proposed copyright legislation known as SOPA and PIPA, earning him recognition in Fast Company magazine as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2012 (#32) and recognition from the World Technology Network as among the top five tech lawyers in 2012.

He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School. He also serves as an Affiliate Scholar of the Stanford Law School Center for Internet & Society, and is an Affiliate of the Yale Law School Information Society Project. He is also a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the Americas Business Council Foundation.

Except where otherwise noted, all postings by Marvin Ammori on CircleID are licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Featured Blogs

FCC’s “Commercial Reasonableness” Standard Already a Dismal Failure

T-Mobile filed a petition today making it clear that the FCC's commercial reasonableness standard is a failure. Anyone following net neutrality knows that the FCC is proposing to authorize discrimination and pay-for-priority deals known as fast lanes. The FCC is claiming we need not worry, however, because the FCC can make sure that entrepreneurs and users face only "commercially reasonable" discrimination. more

Net Neutrality’s Legal Binary: An Either/Or With No “Third Way”

People working on net neutrality wish for a "third way" — a clever compromise giving us both network neutrality and no blowback from AT&T;, Verizon, Comcast and others. That dream is delusional because the carriers will oppose network neutrality in any real form; they want paid fast lanes. They have expressed particular opposition to "Title II" of the Communications Act — something telecom lawyers mention the same way normal people might reference the First or Second Amendments. Title II is the one essential law to ban paid fast lanes. more

Interconnection Disputes Are Network Neutrality Issues (of Netflix, Comcast, and the FCC)

A lot of people have been talking about the "interconnection" deal between Comcast and Netflix and whether that deal is related to network neutrality. (It is.) This question comes partly because the FCC's 2010 Open Internet Order (also known as the network neutrality order) was recently struck down. So network neutrality lands back at the FCC, with a new Open Internet proceeding, at the same time Netflix starts working so poorly on Comcast that Netflix had to cut a special deal with Comcast. more

Filtering the Internet Is Still a Bad Idea: DCA, ABC, and Steroid Searches

A few days ago, ABC News ran an "investigative" piece called "Group Probes Ease and Danger of Buying Steroids Online." ABC describes the "group" at issue as "an online watchdog," the Digital Citizens Alliance. That group determined that some of the millions of available YouTube videos encourage steroid use and that YouTube (which is owned by Google) places ads next to steroid-related videos and search results. They argue that Google and YouTube should be held legally responsible for any illegal content linked or posted. more

Ignore The Chicken Littles: Let’s Give New Web Domains a Try

Before the experiment has gotten off the ground, some critics have expressed concern about applications to operate domains referring to a "generic" product or service, like .car, .book, or .app. News reports indicate that Microsoft and other Google competitors have filed complaints about Google's applications, while authors' organizations have raised questions about some of Amazon's applications. These complaints assert that giving these applicants the right to operate these new domains would provide an unfair competitive advantage. more