{"id":5108,"date":"2017-01-10T10:39:59","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T15:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=5108"},"modified":"2017-01-10T11:03:05","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T16:03:05","slug":"ensuring-internet-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Ensuring Internet Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

The thread connecting Nnake Nweke<\/a>\u2019s career as an engineer, lawyer, cybersecurity specialist, and nonprofit leader is simple: He loves an intellectual challenge.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the reason Nweke, PhD \u201906, became an electrical engineer and the reason he went on to earn a law degree from the University of Maryland in 2010. It\u2019s also what drives him in his new role as the first director of the Office of Internet Freedom <\/a>for the Broadcasting Board of Governors<\/a>, an independent federal agency responsible for all U.S. government\u2013supported, civilian international media.<\/p>\n

\"Nnake<\/a>\u201cThe United Nations declared access to the internet as a fundamental human right. It\u2019s the platform on which we express ourselves,\u201d says Nweke, who assumed the helm of the new office in late July. \u201cIt\u2019s where we learn and exchange ideas. Everything depends upon it. His office\u2019s goal is to ensure that people anywhere can access the internet on any platform of choice to share information freely. In that quest, he is principal adviser to the BBG\u2019s CEO, its board, and its five networks\u2014the Voice of America<\/a>, Office of Cuba Broadcasting<\/a>, Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty<\/a>, Radio Free Asia<\/a>, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.<\/a><\/p>\n

His new role requires creative problem-solving and collaboration\u2014and Nweke\u2019s technical and legal acumen. After studying at Johns Hopkins, he worked for the National Security Agency<\/a> as a research engineer, mostly on novel encryption technologies. While in law school, Nweke worked for a Washington, D.C., patent law firm but left to return to cybersecurity as an engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.<\/a> \u201cPatents weren\u2019t broad enough for the technology issues I am interested in. Technology has exploded, but the legal side has not caught up,\u201d he says, citing as an example the recent encryption case with Apple, following the San Bernardino shootings.<\/p>\n

Nweke\u2019s tenure at the Federal Communications Commission<\/a>\u2014first as a senior engineer in the Public Safety and and Homeland Security Bureau\u2019s Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division, then as a branch chief in the Office of Engineering and Technology\u2014earned him a Meritorious Civilian Service Award from the bureau for his outstanding contributions in cybersecurity. In January 2015, he founded the nonprofit Science and Technology Policy Center for Development<\/a> to assist developing nations, particularly in Africa, in crafting and implementing comprehensive science and technology policies.<\/p>\n

Nweke relishes the \u201ccat and mouse\u201d aspect of his new job, which involves a constant effort to circumvent the blocking of internet access by repressive governments, with each side trying to outwit the other. In his cybersecurity career, he used encryption to prevent hackers from seeing a computer user\u2019s confidential data. Now, he and his team provide encryption tools to citizens worldwide so that they can access or share censored internet information freely. \u201cWe work to support freedom and democracy around the world,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nnake Nweke loves an intellectual challenge. It\u2019s what drives him in his new role as the first director of the Office of Internet Freedom for the Broadcasting Board of Governors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[187,258,584,588,592,596,600,604,608],"class_list":["post-5108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-johns-hopkins-university-applied-physics-laboratory","tag-cybersecurity","tag-nnake-nweke","tag-office-of-internet-freedom-for-the-broadcasting-board-of-governors","tag-united-nations","tag-voice-of-america","tag-national-security-agency","tag-internet-freedom","tag-science-and-technology-policy-center-for-development","issue-winter-2017"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEnsuring Internet Freedom - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ensuring Internet Freedom - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nnake Nweke loves an intellectual challenge. It\u2019s what drives him in his new role as the first director of the Office of Internet Freedom for the Broadcasting Board of Governors.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-10T15:39:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-10T16:03:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Ensuring-Internet-Freedom_THUMB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"headline\":\"Ensuring Internet Freedom\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-10T15:39:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-10T16:03:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":482,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Ensuring-Internet-Freedom_THUMB.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\",\"cybersecurity\",\"Nnake Nweke\",\"Office of INternet Freedom for the Broadcasting Board of Governors\",\"United Nations\",\"Voice of America\",\"National Security Agency\",\"Internet freedom\",\"Science and Technology Policy Center for Development\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ensuring Internet Freedom - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Ensuring-Internet-Freedom_THUMB.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-10T15:39:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-10T16:03:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Ensuring-Internet-Freedom_THUMB.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Ensuring-Internet-Freedom_THUMB.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/ensuring-internet-freedom\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ensuring Internet Freedom\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\",\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Abby Lattes\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ensuring Internet Freedom - JHU Engineering Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ensuring Internet Freedom - JHU Engineering Magazine","og_description":"Nnake Nweke loves an intellectual challenge. It\u2019s what drives him in his new role as the first director of the Office of Internet Freedom for the Broadcasting Board of Governors.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2017-01-10T15:39:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-10T16:03:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Ensuring-Internet-Freedom_THUMB.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abby Lattes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abby Lattes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/"},"author":{"name":"Abby Lattes","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"headline":"Ensuring Internet Freedom","datePublished":"2017-01-10T15:39:59+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-10T16:03:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/"},"wordCount":482,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Ensuring-Internet-Freedom_THUMB.jpg","keywords":["Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory","cybersecurity","Nnake Nweke","Office of INternet Freedom for the Broadcasting Board of Governors","United Nations","Voice of America","National Security Agency","Internet freedom","Science and Technology Policy Center for Development"],"articleSection":["Alumni"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/","name":"Ensuring Internet Freedom - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Ensuring-Internet-Freedom_THUMB.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-10T15:39:59+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-10T16:03:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Ensuring-Internet-Freedom_THUMB.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Ensuring-Internet-Freedom_THUMB.jpg","width":300,"height":200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2017\/01\/ensuring-internet-freedom\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ensuring Internet Freedom"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742","name":"Abby Lattes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","caption":"Abby Lattes"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5108"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6968,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5108\/revisions\/6968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}