Joel Thayer Email & Phone Number

As president of the organization, I am responsible for setting DPI's policy priorities, fundraising, and finding talent that will advance our mission. I also write and submit DPI's legal and regulatory filings and thought pieces (e.g., white papers, opeds, and substantive blogs).

I focus my practice on telecommunications, antitrust, regulatory and transactional matters, as well as privacy and cybersecurity issues. Legislatures, courts, and regulators have used my submissions and articles as a source of legal authority to advance the political conversation in the tech and telecom policy circles. I have represented clients in front of myriad legal and regulatory fora, including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and federal administrative agencies. Additionally, I have also represented amicus curiae before the United States Supreme Court and advised technology companies on the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. My practice extends to matters concerning both administrative and constitutional law. At Thayer, P.L.L.C., I assist clients in drafting and filing regulatory comments in a wide array of regulatory fora to promote our clients’ goals. I also develop the firm’s telecom and competition strategies where he advises clients on how best to engage with relevant federal and international agencies.

Buffalo, Ny, Us

I focus my practice on telecommunications, regulatory and transactional matters, as well as privacy and cybersecurity issues. I have represented clients in front of myriad legal and regulatory fora, including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and federal administrative agencies. I have also represented amicus curiae before the United States Supreme Court and advised technology companies on the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. Additionally, my practice extends to matters concerning both administrative and constitutional law.

Washington, Dc, Us

• Advise the association on legal and policy issues related to antitrust, telecommunications, privacy, cybersecurity, and intellectual property.• Serve as policy lead developing the association’s legal and policy positions and strategies for its national and international 5G campaigns to promote broadband buildout and encourage strategic partnerships between content providers, manufacturers, and ISPs. • Serve as policy lead for the association’s platform competition policy and authored key position papers on competition issues in the platform-app market in both the United States and France. • Testified on behalf of the association on digital trade priorities for the United States’ NAFTA renegotiations in front of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). • Write and submit comments to federal and international agencies (including, but not limited to, the FCC, FTC, NTIA, USTR, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, and the European Commission) on behalf of the association. • Wrote, authored, and researched all of the association’s amicus curiae briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court and Federal Circuit in 2017-2018. • Authored the association’s guide for the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.

I managed the campaign’s “ground game.” I increased our volunteer membership by 30 new members, who helped execute our political strategy to over 300,000 registered republicans and independents in California’s 31st Congressional District. I gave speeches at events with over three hundred constituents in attendance on behalf of candidate and developed the campaign’s press strategies—including constructing social media and e-mail campaigns— with the press secretary to ensure consistent messaging for media outlets (e.g., Los Angeles Times, New York Times, etc.), which reached over 700,000 constituents.

I assisted managing partners in developing its cyber-security practice by providing the Cyber Group with solid foundational research to better advise clients. Additionally, I performed the same function for the firm’s Medical Malpractice Group, while also drafting and preparing pre-litigation materials, including legal memoranda regarding litigation strategies for named partners, deposition summaries outlining flaws in oppositions’ arguments, expert witness profiles for trial, and drafted motions for court submission.

Washington, Dc, Us

i.e., AUWCL's Civil Litigation Clinic

Washington, Dc, Us

I authored analytical legal/policy briefs using legal databases (e.g., Lexis Nexus, Westlaw, Thomas) to prepare Commissioner before voting on items. I researched and analyzed the following: data security implications of the SAFE Web Act to businesses; consumer protection concerns regarding appropriate punitive measures for companies not in compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act; and appropriate FTC fencing measures related to Commission’s enforcement practices against private companies granted under Section 5 of the FTC Act.

Washington, District Of Columbia, Us

I prepared analytical briefing memos on the FCC’s legal authority to inform the Commissioner before voting on particular items, both in enforcement (e.g., forfeiture orders) and rulemaking procedures under the Communications Act and Telecommunications Act, while also navigating the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) to provide a more comprehensive analysis. I drafted an op-ed article for the Commissioner urging other FCC leadership to rescind the Sports Blackout Rule, which was submitted to national publications to advance the Commissioner’s media strategy towards that effect; the Cincinnati Enquirer published the op-ed in print. I drafted the Commissioner's speech on the elimination of the radio contest rules that he read at the November 2014 Open Meeting.

Washington, District Of Columbia, Us

I researched and recommended legal authorities under section 706 of the Telecommunications Act, section 254 of the Communications Act, and relevant case law to provide bundled and stand-alone broadband services to USF programs including Lifeline; my reports were used in FCC proceedings leading up to the Lifeline Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and also the Report and Order that followed.

Arlington, Va, Us

I wrote analytical reports outlining legal issues and providing recommendations to counsel and member companies on accessibility to advanced communications devices, cloud computing, USF and the Connect America Fund, commercial spectrum policies, privacy, cyber-security, public safety communications, and intellectual property. I drafted an Opposition to Petition against the National Association of the Deaf requesting the FCC to broaden the term “mechanism” to require buttons, keys, and icons—a cost-prohibitive measure —which was filed at the FCC.

Washington, Dc, Us

I recommended policies to the Congressman and his counsel concerning the telecommunications industry, cybersecurity, Internet privacy, and intellectual property, which were used to advise the Congressman before voting on items. I also developed language for the first iteration of the Data Security and Breach Notification Act debated on the House floor and a provision of the America Invents Act that would mitigate the harm of patent assertion entitles (PAE) by redirecting PAE’s initial complaints to the U.S. Patent and Trade Office to determine patent validity. Using Thomas, Westlaw, LexisNexis, and the Congressional Research Service (CRS), I co-authored a white paper on over-the-top companies’ influence on the multi-channel video programming distributor market.

Washington, District Of Columbia, Us

I researched and wrote legal memoranda on possible FCC Reverse Auction rules and FTC charges against HTC America, Inc. regarding certain cybersecurity vulnerabilities in its SMS platform for its affiliated mobile devices. I also summarized FCC comments and monitored ECFS on issues concerning the 700 MHZ spectrum band to brief member companies on license transfers and spectrum auction rule updates.

Washington, Dc, Us

Drafted official office correspondence to constituents on cybersecurity, telecommunications, and Internet privacy using the Congressional database IQ; and managed daily office functions.

Juris Doctor (J.D.), Communications, Intellectual Property, And Administrative Law

Liberal Studies, Law And Communication With A Minor In Human Communication