Declan McCullagh may just be the most well known
journalist to both
techno-
geeks and techno-
politicos alike. He currently covers the intersection of technology and politics for
News.com, writing stories and a weekly
column. McCullagh also runs the
Politech mailing list and its web version, politechbot.com.
McCullagh went to college at Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied cognitive science and wrote for the student newspaper, the Tartan. He isn't just a tech-nerd, though - he served as treasurer and president of the student body and was president of the CMU motorcycle club. He also was extremely involved in law and photography in addition to journalism.
A proficient
C programmer, McCullagh was hired by
NeXT in 1990, and by the next year was writing for NeXTWorld magazine. He also has helped co-author an
IETF Internet draft, and worked for
Xerox. He has been an avid
Internet user since 1988, and in 1994 started his Politech
mailing list, which covers the influence and effects of
politics on
technology. The list is a source of information for many stories picked up by web sites like
Slashdot,
2600, and
Kuro5hin, as well as breaking stories that later are covered by the major news media.
He has years of experience with
Washington politics. He worked on
Jerry Brown's 1992 presidential campaign, and lobbied for the
Friends of the Earth organization. He was in the first
White House "dot com" press pool, and was one of the first online journalists to receive
press credentials from the
U.S. Congress. He has also testified before the
Federal Trade Commission.
He was the first online reporter to become a member of the
National Press Club. McCullagh has written for online publications like
Wired News, written a cover story for
Time about satellite phones (in the story he espouses the virtues of satellite telephony, but, unfortunately, that technology is now as dead as
Gary Condit's political career). He has covered stories from aboard
Air Force One, and has written columns for
George,
Slate,
The New Republic,
Playboy, and
The Wall Street Journal. He has also been a pundit on
CNN,
NPR,
ABC,
NBC,
CBC,
Fox News, and many others.
He belongs to the
International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and has been a judge in many online and journalism competitions. He has also received a free speech award from the
ACLU.
McCullagh has spoken at
Stanford University,
Harvard University,
Georgetown University, and the
University of Chicago. He is also a fellow of
Case Western Reserve University's law school, and in 1999 was a visiting faculty member of
George Mason University's Institute for Humane Studies.
Without Declan McCullagh's analyses and knowledge, the people at Slashdot (whose editors couldn't find their way out of a legal paper bag, much less use correct grammar) would be utterly clueless about laws involving technology.
Source
http://www.mccullagh.org/about/bio-long.html