Wendy M. Grossman (born January 26, 1954) is a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger, and folksinger. Her writing has been published in several newspapers, magazines, and specialized publications. She is the recipient of the 2013 Enigma Award for

information security Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data ...

reporting.

Education

Grossman was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1975.

Career

Writer and editor

In 1987, she founded the magazine '' The Skeptic'' in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, which she edited for some time. As founder and editor, she has appeared on numerous UK TV and radio programmes. Her credits since 1990 include work for ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', and the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'', as well as ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

'', ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'' and ''

Wired News ''Wired'' is a bi-monthly American magazine that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. It is published in both print and online editions by Condé Nast. The magazine has been in publication since its l ...

'', and ''

The Inquirer ''The Inquirer'' (stylized as TheINQUIRER) was a British technology tabloid website founded by Mike Magee after his departure from ''The Register'' (of which he was one of the founding members) in 2001. In 2006 the site was acquired by Dutch ...

'' for which she wrote a regular weekly ''net.wars'' column. That column continues in '' NewsWireless'' and on her own site every Friday. She was a columnist for ''

Internet Today The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that consists of private, publi ...

'' from July 1996 until it closed in April 1997, and together with Dominic Young ran the

Fleet Street Forum Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet *Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles *Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada *Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England *The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach, ...

on CompuServe UK in the mid-1990s. She edited an anthology of interviews with leading computer industry figures taken from the pages of the British computer magazine ''

Personal Computer World ''Personal Computer World'' (''PCW'') (February 1978 - June 2009) was the first British computer magazine. Although for at least the last decade it contained a high proportion of Windows PC content (reflecting the state of the IT field), the m ...

''. Entitled ''Remembering the Future'', it was published in January 1997 by

Springer Verlag Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...

. Her 1998 book ''net.wars'' was one of the first to have its full text published on the Web. She was a member of an external board that advised

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

on the creation of the Intellectual Property and Law Centre. She sits on the executive committee of the

Association of British Science Writers The Association of British Science Writers (ABSW) is the UK society for Science writing, science writers, science journalists and science communicators. Founded in 1947, the ABSW exists to help those who write about science and technology, and ...

and the Advisory Councils of the

Open Rights Group The Open Rights Group (ORG) is a UK-based organisation that works to preserve digital rights and freedoms by campaigning on digital rights issues and by fostering a community of grassroots activists. It campaigns on numerous issues including ma ...

and

Privacy International Privacy International (PI) is a UK-based registered charity that defends and promotes the right to privacy across the world. First formed in 1990, registered as a non-profit company in 2002 and as a charity in 2012, PI is based in London. Its ...

In February 2011 Grossman was elected as a Fellow of the

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the U.S. non-profit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to " ...

Folk singer

Grossman was a full-time

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

from 1975 to 1983 and her folk album ''Roseville Fair'' was released in 1980. She also played on

Archie Fisher Archie Macdonald Fisher (born 23 October 1939) is a Scottish folk singer and songwriter. He has released several solo albums since his first, eponymous album, in 1968. Fisher composed the song "The Final Trawl", recorded on the album ''Windwa ...

's 1976 LP ''The Man With a Rhyme''. She was president of the Cornell Folk Song Club, the oldest university-affiliated, student-run folk song club in the US, from 1973 to 1975. In 2024, Grossman released a 13-track album ''The Last Trip Home'' through Riverlark Music. Described as "a mixed-up baker's dozen", it includes instrumentals plus ballads traditional and contemporary.

TV appearances

In 2005, Grossman featured on an episode of the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

comedy spoof series ''

High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman ''High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman'' is a British television comedy show broadcast on BBC Three and featuring character comedian Marc Wootton who plays an effete and slightly vicious medium/psychic. It is narrated by Patrick Stewart, with anim ...

''.

Awards

In 2013, Grossman was the winner of the Enigma Award, part of the BT Information Security Journalism Awards, "for her dedication and outstanding contribution to information security journalism, recognising her extensive writing on the subject for several publications over a number of years".

Works

* ''Remembering the Future: Interviews from Personal Computer World'' (1996) * ''

Net.wars ''Net.wars'' is a non-fiction book by journalist Wendy M. Grossman about conflict and controversy among stakeholders on the Internet. It was published by NYU Press in 1997, and was simultaneously made available free as an online version. The boo ...

'' (1998) * ''From Anarchy to Power: The Net Comes of Age'' (2001) * ''The Daily Telegraph A–Z Guide to the Internet'' (2001) * ''The Daily Telegraph Small Business Guide to Computer Networking'' (2003) * ''Why Statues Weep: The Best of the "Skeptic"'' (2010) – with

Chris French Christopher (Chris) Charles French (born 1956) is a British psychologist who is prominent in the field of anomalistic psychology, with a focus on the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. In addition to his academic activ ...

References

External links

Official website

Wendy Grossman
on

LiveJournal LiveJournal (), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as a way of keeping his high school ...

Wendy Grossman
in ''

''
NewsWirelessNet, where her column net.wars appears every Friday

Full text of ''net.wars''
Wendy Grossman, 1997–99

NYU Press New York University Press (or NYU Press) is a university press that is part of New York University. History NYU Press was founded in 1916 by the then chancellor of NYU, Elmer Ellsworth Brown. Directors * Arthur Huntington Nason, 1916–193 ...

, {{DEFAULTSORT:Grossman, Wendy 1954 births Living people 21st-century American non-fiction writers American bloggers American folk singers American technology writers American women bloggers 20th-century American women journalists Cornell University alumni Riverdale Country School alumni Women technology writers Journalists from New York City 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women journalists