Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is the Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford. His research focuses on the role of information in a networked economy. Earlier he spent ten years on the faculty of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
He has published eleven books, including the international bestseller “Big Data” (HMH, co-authored with Kenneth Cukier, translated into more than 20 languages), “Learning with Big Data” (HMH, co-authored with Kenneth Cukier) and the awards-winning “Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age” with Princeton University Press (also available in multiple languages). He is the author of over a hundred articles and book chapters on the economics and governance of information.
After successes in the International Physics Olympics and the Austrian Young Programmers Contest, Mayer-Schönberger studied in Salzburg, Harvard and at the London School of Economics. In 1986 he founded Ikarus Software, a company focusing on data security and developed the Virus Utilities, which became the best-selling Austrian software product. He was voted Top-5 Software Entrepreneur in Austria in 1991 and Person of the Year for the State of Salzburg in 2000. He has chaired the Rueschlikon Conference on Information Policy in the New Economy, bringing together leading strategists and decision-makers of the new economy. In 2014 he received a World Technology Award in the law category for his work.
He is a frequent public speaker, and sought expert for print and broadcast media worldwide. He and his work have been featured in (among others) New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, Nature, Science, NPR, BBC, The Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, WIRED, Ars Technica, and Daily Kos. He is also on the boards of foundations, think tanks and organizations focused on studying the information economy, and advises governments, businesses and NGOs on new economy and information society issues.
In his spare time, he likes to travel, go to the movies, and learn about architecture.
Big data, digital economy, governance of data
Big Data, digital economy, institutions and governance in the data age
By Viktor Mayer-Schönberger & Thomas Ramge
Information is power, and the time is now for digital liberation. Access Rules mounts a strong and hopeful argument for how informational tools at present in the hands of a few could instead become empowering machines for everyone.
Through empirical research, this project seeks to understand the determinants of individual cyber security behaviours of students in France and the UK.
I currently serve as a member of the German Digital Council and the AXA Data Protection and Ethics Panel.
With Professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
Professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, one of the co-authors of 'Framers' and Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the OII, will discuss his book and answer audience questions.
With Professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
With Professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger will discuss his recent book, 'Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age', which looks at the surprising phenomenon of perfect remembering in the digital age, revealing why we must reintroduce our ability to forget.
With Professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Neil Cukier
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier, co-authors of Big Data, explain why big data may be on par with the Internet (or perhaps even the printing press).
By Fred H. Cate, Peter Cullen, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
Age-old principles for data protection need updating for the age of big data. This report, from an Oxford Internet Institute-led working group, offers suggestions for changes to the influential OECD guidelines first drawn up in 1980.
6 December 2013
Now is the time to augment and improve the Privacy Principles drawn up by the OECD over 30 years ago to ensure their relevance in the age of Big Data. A new report by Professor Mayer-Schönberger and colleagues signposts five priorities.
17 September 2010
12 May 2010
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is appointed Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford.
Foreign Policy, 25 December 2024
This year, countries and companies debated how the technology should be regulated.
Associated Press, 28 November 2024
The Oxford professor delivered a seminar to Concordia high school students and the wider community on the transformative power of big data and generative AI.
Foreign Policy, 16 September 2024
Experimentation is the right strategy—as long as regulators can learn from one another.
Introducing the challenges and limitations of conventional legal institutions on the Internet (especially those administered by the State) and reinterpreting these institutions in the context of the Internet.
