Executive Director
Alissa Cooper is the Executive Director of the Knight-Georgetown Institute (KGI). She is a recognized leader in the development of global Internet standards, policy, and governance. Alissa has served in a variety of roles in the tech industry, including Chair of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the world’s premier Internet standards organization. She led the IETF through significant transitions related to Internet security and encryption, network performance, privacy, and real-time voice and video. She previously served as the chair of the IANA Stewardship Coordination Group, which delivered the technical plan that allowed the U.S. Department of Commerce to transfer oversight of Internet governance to the global multistakeholder community.
Prior to joining KGI, Alissa spent a decade at Cisco Systems in senior engineering and executive roles, including Vice President of Technology Standards and Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Technology Policy. She played a central part in shaping Cisco’s approach to technology standardization, public policy, and privacy across the company’s networking, security, and collaboration businesses. Alissa was the first woman in Cisco history to be promoted to Fellow, the company’s highest engineering distinction.
Prior to joining Cisco, Alissa served as the Chief Computer Scientist at the Center for Democracy and Technology, where she was a leading public interest advocate and technologist focused on privacy and net neutrality. Alissa holds a D.Phil from the Oxford Internet Institute and M.S. and B.S. degrees in computer science from Stanford University. She currently serves on the board of The Tor Project.
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A new report by the Knight-Georgetown Institute shows how the US government’s proposed Google Chrome divestiture is technically feasible. The in-depth engineering assessment shows how an independent Chrome browser can thrive outside of Google and compete with Chrome’s major rivals.
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As lawsuits mount and legislation proliferates aimed at stemming online harms, the battle over how algorithmic recommender systems should be designed is heating up. Yet common policy solutions that focus on mandating chronological feeds or limiting personalization fail to address the core issue: how to design recommender systems that align with users’ genuine long-term interests rather than exploiting their short-term impulses.
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As state, federal, and global policymakers grapple with how to address concerns about the link between online algorithms and a variety of harms, KGI’s latest report authored by a distinguished group of researchers, technologists, and policy leaders is a roadmap for design and governance solutions that put users first. Product designers and policymakers can promote better algorithms through detailed design transparency, user choices and defaults, and assessments of long-term impact.
Alex Moehring, Alissa Cooper, Arvind Narayanan, Aviv Ovadya, Elissa Redmiles, Jeff Allen, Jonathan Stray, Julia Kamin, Leif Sigerson, Luke Thorburn, Matt Motyl, Motahhare Eslami, Nadine Farid Johnson, Nathaniel Lubin, Ravi Iyer, Zander Arnao
