Gigi Sohn

Gigi Beth Sohn (born August 2, 1961) is an American lawyer who is the co-founder (with Laurie Racine and David Bollier) of Public Knowledge. She previously worked for the Ford Foundation. In 2013, Tom Wheeler hired her into a senior staff position at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). She left there shortly after Donald Trump's election in 2016. In July 2017, she held fellowship positions with Georgetown Law's Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Open Society Foundations, and Mozilla.

Early life and education

Sohn earned a Bachelor of Science degree in broadcasting and film from Boston University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Career

From 2013-2016, Gigi served as Counselor to Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, and from 2001-2013 was Co-Founder and CEO of Public Knowledge, a leading communications and technology policy advocacy organization serving the interests of consumers. She was previously a Project Specialist in the Ford Foundation’s Media, Arts and Culture unit and Executive Director of the Media Access Project, a communications public interest law firm.

She is a non-resident fellow at the University of Southern California Annenberg Center, and a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Law. She has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Sohn was executive director of the Media Access Project, a public interest law firm. She is known for her "personal relationships with power players all over the capital."

Sohn is an EFF Pioneer Award winner. In November 2013, she was hired by the FCC as special counsel for external affairs. Sohn is the host of ''Tech on the Rocks,'' a podcast focused on media, tech policy and broadband.

From 2018 to 2021, Sohn sat on the board of Locast, an app that captured and retransmitted local broadcast signals over the internet pursuant to an exemption in the copyright law for nonprofits. Viewers could stream the content for free, though it accepted donations. Several broadcasting networks sued, and a federal judge last fall ordered Locast to stop operating. Plaintiffs were awarded $32 million in damages. Locast ceased operations on September 21, 2021.

Since 2018, Sohn has been a member of th
Board
of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

FCC nomination

On October 26, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Sohn to serve as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. Initial hearings were held before the Senate Commerce Committee on her nomination on December 1, 2021. Sohn's initial nomination stalled in the committee and was returned to President Biden on January 3, 2022.

President Biden renominated Sohn the next day. The committee held a second round of hearings to examine Sohn's nomination on February 9, 2022. On March 3, 2022, the committee deadlocked on the nomination in a party-line vote. The entire Senate must now vote to discharge the nomination from the committee. Her nomination is currently pending before the committee.

Personal life

Sohn married her wife Lara Ballard in August 2007. Sohn adopted a daughter in 2004.

References

External links

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Official Bio
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sohn, Gigi
Boston University College of Communication alumni
University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni
Copyright activists
American lawyers
Living people
American LGBT people
Place of birth missing (living people)
American women lawyers
Lesbian academics
21st-century American women
1961 births