Ars Technica's Tech Policy "People to Watch" 2009.

I got an e-mail this morning from Chris Riley over at Free Press saying simply, "You made the list. Congratulations - you deserve it" and with a link to today's lead story in Ars Technica:

Ars Technica's Tech Policy "People to Watch" 2009

It's a great list of folks and I feel quite humbled to be among them. I've been working closely (some for years now) with many of this year's honorees and as a group, we are definitely helping shape the future of telecommunications.

Ars gave me a very nice shout out:

When it came time to further narrow down the pool of influencers, our next bias was in favor of those doing something new, interesting, or otherwise innovative—the sort of people who can not only influence tech policy but would also be fascinating to sit next to at your next dinner party. These are people like Sascha Meinrath of the New America Foundation, a creative advocate of open networks who has done work on white spaces and the new Google M-Lab program; or Vivek Kundra, the hard-charging CTO of Washington, DC, who brings Silicon Valley's innovation commitment to government IT work.

Here's what they wrote about me:

Sascha Meinrath, Research Director, Wireless Future Program, New America Foundation

Before joining New America Foundation in 2007, Sascha Meinrath previously worked as a policy analyst, telecom consultant, and community organizer. The skills he developed in those three different roles undoubtedly have influenced his current work as research director at New America's Wireless Future program where he and Michael Calabrese are striving to reform US telecommunications policy, particularly spectrum access, one challenging step at a time.

In addition to his research on municipal broadband networks and net neutrality, Meinrath is heading up a new Open Technology Initiative (OTI) on behalf of New America, and he helped produce the new network metrics site M-Lab. OTI's charter is to advocate policy and regulatory changes that support open architectures, technologies, and communications networks.