Births on July 11

Michael Geist, Canadian journalist and academic

Michael Allen Geist (born July 11, 1968) is a Canadian academic, the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa and a member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society. Geist was educated at the University of Western Ontario, Osgoode Hall Law School, where he received his Bachelor of Laws, Cambridge University, where he received a Master of Laws, and Columbia Law School, where he received a Master of Laws and Doctor of Law degree. He has been a visiting professor at universities around the world including the University of Haifa, Hong Kong University, and Tel Aviv University. He is also a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

Geist is the editor of many books including Law, Privacy and Surveillance in Canada in the Post-Snowden Era (2015, University of Ottawa Press), The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundations of Canadian Copyright Law (2013, University of Ottawa Press), From "Radical Extremism" to "Balanced Copyright": Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda (2010, Irwin Law) and In the Public Interest: The Future of Canadian Copyright Law (2005, Irwin Law). He is a regular columnist in The Globe and Mail, the editor of several monthly technology law publications, and the author of www.michaelgeist.ca, a popular blog on the Internet and intellectual property law issues.

Geist serves on many boards, including Ingenium, Internet Archive Canada, and the EFF Advisory Board. He is the chair of Waterfront Toronto's Digital Strategy Advisory Panel. He was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 2018 and was awarded the Vox Libera Award for his contribution to freedom of expression by Canadian Journalists for Freedom of Expression (CJFE) in 2018. He has received numerous other awards for his work including the University of Ottawa Open Access Award in 2016, Kroeger Award for Policy Leadership and the Public Knowledge IP3 Award in 2010, the Les Fowlie Award for Intellectual Freedom from the Ontario Library Association in 2009, the EFF's Pioneer Award in 2008, and Canarie's IWAY Public Leadership Award for his contribution to the development of the Internet in Canada. Geist was named one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 in 2002. In 2010, he was listed globally as one of the top fifty influential people in regard to intellectual property by Managing Intellectual Property. Canadian Lawyer named him one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada in 2011, 2012, and 2013.