Stanford CIS
Ben Scott

Ben Scott

Ben Scott is a Visiting Fellow at the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung in Berlin and Senior Adviser to the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation in Washington DC. Previously, he was Policy Advisor for Innovation at the US Department of State, where he worked at the intersection of technology and foreign policy. In a small team of advisors to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he helped to steward the 21st Century Statecraft agenda with a focus on technology policy, social media and development. Prior to joining the State Department, for six years he led the Washington office for Free Press, a non-profit organization in the US focused on public education and public interest advocacy in media and communications policy. At the head of a team of lawyers, researchers, and advocates, he directed a policy agenda to expand affordable access to an open Internet and to foster more public service journalism. He was frequently called as an expert witness before the US Congress. Before joining Free Press, he worked as a legislative aide handling telecommunications policyfor then-Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the U.S. House of Representatives. He holds a PhD in communications from the University of Illinois.

Recent articles

Press

Fake news busters

"As an outside technology adviser to Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Scott has first-hand knowledge of how digital falsehoods can…

Publication

Rethinking the Think Tank

The debilitating weakness in our democracy today is the growing disconnect between government and citizens. Most Americans now believe that our political system…