Jonathan Mayer

Mayer's research focuses on technology policy, especially concerning computer security and privacy. He was selected as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2014 for his contributions to those areas.

On July 30, 2013 Mayer resigned from his job with the W3C working group. His resignation letter faulted advertising members for impeding progress and W3C for bad leadership. Some working group members later tried to bring him back as a leader but this did not happen.

After Edward Snowden leaked documents in 2013, Mayer has researched National Security Agency laws.

The California Online Privacy Protection Act requires websites to post privacy policies. Attorney General Kamala Harris argued that this law applies to mobile applications as well. Mayer was a consultant for implementing that law on mobile applications. That initiative produced a large settlement with all mobile platforms on February 22, 2012.

In December 2012, Mayer proposed that Mozilla Firefox use the same cookie blocking mechanism as Apple Safari. He wrote the code patch as a community contributor and Mozilla adopted it. Representatives from the online advertising business have objected and criticize both Mayer and Mozilla. Businesses also had Congress members write letters to Mozilla. It was expressing false concerns about abducted children and natural disasters. Mozilla has since changed from Safari's cookie blocking mechanism, instead joining up with Cookie Clearinghouse's privacy initiative. Mayer has said that he is disappointed in Mozilla's decision but remains involved on the advisory board for Cookie Clearinghouse.

Between 2011 and 2012 Mayer posted on illegal web tracking businesses. His contributions include the following.

In mid-2010, Mayer and another Stanford researcher Arvind Narayanan argued for Do Not Track in HTTP headers. They built Do Not Track prototypes for clients and servers. Working with Mozilla, they wrote the influential Internet Engineering Task Force Internet Draft of Do Not Track.

Mayer is a Chicago, Illinois, United States, native and attended the Latin School of Chicago. He received his AB from Princeton University in 2009 through the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. During his undergraduate studies he was a member of the team competing in the 2007 DARPA Grand Challenge and Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition.

Mayer began his graduate work at Stanford University in 2009, where he was its first student to pursue both a PhD through the computer science department and a JD at Stanford Law School. Mayer received his JD in 2013.

Jonathan Mayer (born February 5, 1987) is an American computer scientist and lawyer. He is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs at Princeton University affiliated with the Center for Information Technology Policy, and was previously a PhD student in computer science at Stanford University and a fellow at the Center for Internet and Society and the Center for International Security and Cooperation. During his graduate studies he was a consultant at the California Department of Justice.