Viktor Mayer-Schönberger (born 1966) is Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the

Oxford Internet Institute The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) serves as a hub for interdisciplinary research, combining social and computer science to explore information, communication, and technology. It is an integral part of the University of Oxford's Social Science ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. He conducts research into the

network economy The network economy is the emerging economic order within the information society. The name stems from a key attribute - products and services are created and value is added through social networks operating on large or global scales. This is i ...

. Earlier he spent ten years on the faculty of Harvard's

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

. He is the co-author of ''Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think'' (HMH, 2013) and author of ''Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age'' (Princeton, 2009), which won the 2010 Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book and the 2010 Don K. Price Award for Best Book in Science and Technology Politics, and has written over a hundred articles and book chapters. He is a member of Germany's Digital Council, advising

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

and her cabinet.

Biography

Mayer-Schönberger was born in 1966 in

Zell am See Zell am See is the administrative capital of the Zell am See District in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. Located in the Kitzbühel Alps, the town is an important tourist destination due to its Ski resort, ski resorts and shorel ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, where his mother owned a local cinema. After leaving secondary school in his hometown, he studied law for seven terms at the

University of Salzburg The University of Salzburg (, ), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university in Salzburg, Salzburg municipality, Salzburg (federal state), Salzburg State, ...

. During this time, he competed successfully in the

International Physics Olympiad The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) is an annual physics competition for high school students. It is one of the International Science Olympiads. The first IPhO was held in Warsaw, Poland in 1967. Each national delegation is made up of a ...

and the Austrian Young Programmers Contest. In 1986, he founded Ikarus Software and developed ''Virus Utilities'', one of the best-selling software products in Austria. He subsequently earned law degrees at the

( Mag.iur., '88, Dr. iur. '91) and at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

(LL.M. '89). In 1992 he received a M.Sc. (Econ) from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, and in 2001 the

venia docendi A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

on (among others) information law at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...

. He also worked in his father's accounting business. In 1998 he joined the faculty of

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

, where he worked and taught for ten years. After three years at

Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School) is an autonomous postgraduate school of the National University of Singapore (NUS), named after the late former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. History The Lee Kuan Yew School of ...

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

, Mayer-Schönberger currently holds the Chair of Internet Governance and Regulation at the

. He has been advising businesses, governments and international organisations.

Work

Mayer-Schönberger's research focuses on the role of information in the networked economy. Among other things, he has been studying data privacy, governance in virtual worlds, law and entrepreneurship, e-government, and (more recently) big data. He has been advocating a right to be forgotten in the form of expiration dates on personal information.

Awards

*1991 - Top-5 Software Entrepreneur in Austria *2000 - Person of the Year for the State of Salzburg * 2010 - Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book in the field of media ecology * 2010 - Don K. Price Award *2013 - Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award, shortlisted for ''Big Data'' *2018 - getAbstract Business Book of the Year Award, shortlisted for ''Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data'' *2018 - Best Business Books 2018: Innovation for ''Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data''

Recent publications

*''Das Recht am Info-Highway'', LexisNexis, 1997, *''Information und Recht'', Vom Datenschutz bis zum Urheberrecht, Springer, 2000, *''Datenschutzgesetz, Linde'', 2006 *''Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age'', Princeton University Press, 2009, *''Big Data: A Revolution That Transforms How we Work, Live, and Think" (with

Kenneth Cukier Kenneth Neil Cukier (born 1968) is an American journalist and author of books on technology and society. He is best known for his work at ''The Economist'' and the book ''Big Data: A Revolution that Will Transform How We Work, Live and Think'', co ...

)'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, *''Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data'' (with Thomas Ramge), Hodder & Stoughton General Division, 2018, * ''Guardrails: Guiding Human Decisions in the Age of AI'' (with Urs Gasser), Princeton University Press, 2023,

References

External links

*
Why we must remember to delete – and forget – in the digital age
'' article by Stuart Jeffries in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

,'' 30 June 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer-Schonberger, Viktor Austrian academics 1966 births Living people Harvard Law School alumni University of Salzburg alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics Fellows of Keble College, Oxford Harvard Kennedy School faculty