Expertise

Topics:  Security and Privacy Economics, Technical Innovation, Network Security, Connected Vehicles, Internet of Things (IoT), Usability and Human Behavior, Systems Security

Industries: Computer/Network Security, Public Policy

Jon Peha has addressed information networks from positions in industry, government and academia. In government, he served at the Federal Communications Commission as chief technologist, in the White House as assistant director of the Office of Science & Technology Policy, in the House Energy & Commerce Committee and at USAID where he helped launch and lead a U.S. Government interagency program to assist developing countries with information infrastructure. His research addresses social and policy issues around evolution of computer and telecommunications networks. One such area is wireless systems: new spectrum policies can expand creation of valuable new wireless products and services. Another area of wireless research concerns the communications systems used by emergency responders such as firefighters, paramedics and police. His research interests also include broadband networks and policies intended to promote fair and open competition such as “network neutrality,” universal service policies intended to help underserved communities and individuals (in both developed and developing countries), policies intended to advance security or privacy and surveillance polices that must both help law enforcement and intelligence agencies do their jobs and protect the privacy and security of individuals and organizations.

Media Experience

What Are Broadband Labels and Are They Useful?  — Govenment Technologies
According to Jon Peha, professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, consumers want more information to make an informed choice. At least, that’s what a study conducted by Carnegie Mellon’s CyLab Security and Privacy Institute found. Peha, a co-author of the study and former chief technologist for the FCC, said, “There are a lot of people on both sides of this argument, who have been discussing what consumers need, but nobody has asked consumers in a rigorous kind of way. So, we launched this study, which I believe is the first large-scale study to find out what consumers really want.”

The Verdict Is In on Elizabeth Holmes  — The New York Times
More spectrum fights are on the way. While the Federal Communications Commission doles out wireless frequencies, industry regulators like the F.A.A. get a lot of say in how those frequencies are used. When there is a conflict, regulators are not required to come up with a joint solution. “There isn’t a year without a dozen spectrum fights,” said Jon Peha, a Carnegie Mellon professor and a former F.C.C. official. “It will continue until the underlying broken process is fixed.”

Internet performance during COVID not as great as many say, study shows  — CyLab
“While downstream Internet performance did not suffer much, upstream did,” says Jon Peha, a professor in Carnegie Mellon’s department of Engineering and Public Policy and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering who formerly served as the FCC’s Chief Technologist. “Our findings contradict what the industry is saying.”

Cable Firms Fear Being Left in Dust in Biden Broadband Quest  — Bloomberg
Jon Peha, an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said complaints about upload speeds soared during the pandemic. “Upstream is critical if you’re working or taking classes from home,” Peha said in an email. “We found that after the pandemic hit, downstream speed stayed about the same but upstream speed was significantly degraded, and consumer complaints about speed tripled.”

So We’re Working From Home. Can the Internet Handle It?  — The New York Times
Jon Peha, a professor of electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and a former chief technology officer of the F.C.C., said he was grappling with how to conduct online lectures from his Pittsburgh home because the campus has shut down in the face of the virus.