Don Blumenthal Joins the PIR Team as Senior Policy Advisor

This week we welcomed Don Blumenthal to the PIR team as Senior Policy Advisor. Don comes on board as we are leaving for the ICANN meeting in Cartagena, Colombia, and I am glad he will be joining us for this important event.

PIR is a leader in working for cybersecurity, balanced and fair domain name policies, and Don will add immeasurably to these efforts. Don brings to PIR a unique set of skills to our work: as a lawyer, as a technologist, and as a cybersecurity and privacy expert. Like a chess master, Don possesses the uncanny ability to anticipate the opponent’s next move. During his tenure at the Federal Trade Commission, he created and directed the FTC’s Internet Lab – the very first US federal laboratory to systematically collect and index illegal activity online for prosecution.

Through that work, Don became an expert in the various abuses of the Internet, from phishing and spam to malware detection. These abuses are areas of deep concern to PIR, and Don’s expertise expands our work and commitment into these areas.

In the years since Don’s leadership at the FTC, he has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan – teaching the next generation of Internet users and policy makers the elements of cybersecurity and privacy.

Don is not only passionate and knowledgeable, but his deep concern for the public interest and strong support of the .ORG community are well-matched attributes to our organization, and perfectly aligns with our core mission at PIR.  I, David Maher, Senior VP of Law & Policy, and everyone at PIR greatly look forward to our work together in 2011.