Libby Liu is an American nonprofit executive, lawyer, and privacy advocate who is the chief executive officer of Whistleblower Aid. She was the president of Radio Free Asia for 14 years, where she led the founding of the Open Technology Fund. After the OTF became an independent organization in 2019, she was the chief executive officer until June 2020.
Liu was born in California [1] to parents who had emigrated from China. [2] She completed a bachelor's degree at University of California-Berkeley, an MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a JD at University of Pennsylvania Law School. [1]
At Radio Free Asia, Liu began as the Vice-President for Administration and Finance, and in September 2005, she was appointed president of the organization. [1] [3] She had previously worked as the Director of Administration and Strategic Planning for the NAACP in Baltimore [1] and had been a director of human resources and employment counsel at a technology company. [4]
As president of Radio Free Asia, Liu worked to support efforts to circumvent Chinese government censorship, [5] including the development of digital technology to evade Chinese government internet firewalls. [6] [7] In 2012, Liu began the Open Technology Fund (OTF) with a team within Radio Free Asia, which was supported by funding from the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). [1] [2] [8] In 2019, the OTF became an independent non-profit organization and grantee of the USAGM, and Liu became the chief executive officer. [9] [10] The OTF funds digital privacy and security technology, including The Tor Project, Signal, [11] and other encryption projects. [2]
In June 2020, Liu offered her resignation from OTF after Michael Pack was appointed to lead the USAGM. [10] [12] [13] The OTF board accepted with a month delay in her leaving the organization, and then Pack fired her and several heads of USAGM-funded news outlets. [11] [14] [15] OTF filed a lawsuit against Pack in federal court [11] [16] and the federal court ruled Pack was within his legal authority to fire Liu and other heads of news outlets overseen by the USAGM. [17] Liu also filed a whistleblower complaint in September 2020. [13] The District of Columbia attorney general also sued Pack for alleged violations of nonprofit law in D.C. Superior Court based on firings that included Liu, the OTF president, and the OTF board, and the D.C. Superior Court ruled the firings by Pack were unlawful. [16]
Liu became the chief executive officer of Whistleblower Aid in April 2021. [18] During her tenure, the organization has represented Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen [19] [20] and other former Facebook employees. [21]
Voice of America is the international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest of the U.S. international broadcasters. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content in 48 languages, which it distributes to affiliate stations around the world. Its targeted and primary audience is non-American outside of the US borders. As of November 2022, its reporting reached 326 million adults per week across all platforms. It is financed by the U.S. Agency for Global Media after the approval of the Congress.
The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), known until 2018 as the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), is an independent agency of the United States government that broadcasts news and information. It is considered an arm of U.S. diplomacy.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) is an American government-funded non-profit corporation operating a news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news, information, and commentary for its audiences in Asia. The service, which provides editorially independent reporting, has the stated mission of providing accurate and uncensored reporting to countries in Asia that have poor media environments and limited protections for speech and press freedom and "advancing the goals of United States foreign policy."
Omidyar Network is a self-styled "philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over US$1.5 billion to nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies across multiple investment areas. According to the OECD, Omidyar Network's financing for 2019 development increased by 10% to US$58.9 million.
Blackbaud, Inc. is a cloud computing provider that serves the social good community—nonprofits, foundations, corporations, education institutions, healthcare organizations, religious organizations, and individual change agents. Its products focus on fundraising, website management, CRM, analytics, financial management, ticketing, and education administration.
The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) is the technical support outlet within the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which is a U.S. independent agency. The IBB supports the day-to-day operations of Voice of America (VOA) and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. It also provides transmission and technical support for all of the independent non-military broadcasting services funded by the USAGM. The IBB is located in Washington, D.C.
The Office of Inspector General for the Department of State (OIG) is an independent office within the U.S. Department of State with a primary responsibility to prevent and detect waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. OIG inspects more than 270 embassies, diplomatic posts, and international broadcasting installations throughout the world to determine whether policy goals are being achieved and whether the interests of the United States are being represented and advanced effectively.
McGuireWoods LLP is a US-based international law firm. Their largest offices are in Richmond, Virginia, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Chicago, Illinois.
Hootsuite is a social media management platform, created by Ryan Holmes in 2008. The system's user interface takes the form of a dashboard, and supports social network integrations for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube and TikTok.
UltraSurf is a closed-source freeware Internet censorship circumvention product created by UltraReach Internet Corporation. The software bypasses Internet censorship and firewalls using an HTTP proxy server, and employs encryption protocols for privacy.
James Melvin Miles is an American politician and attorney, who served as Secretary of State of South Carolina from 1991 to 2003, and subsequently as chief of staff to Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina Andre Bauer.
Wickr is an American software company based in New York City, known for its instant messenger application with the same name. The Wickr instant messaging apps allow users to exchange end-to-end encrypted and content-expiring messages, and are designed for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems. Wickr was acquired by Amazon Web Services (AWS) mid-2021. They discontinued the free version of the app in December 2023.
Robert R. Reilly is a writer, think tank executive and former diplomat. He has published on topics of US foreign policy and the "war of ideas." Reilly is also known as a classical music critic who has written for periodicals including High Fidelity,Musical America,Schwann/Opus, and American Record Guide. In December 2020 Reilly was named director of the Voice of America and he was removed from that post in January 2021 shortly after President Biden's inauguration.
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. is a communications technology company headquartered in San Jose, California, United States.
The Open Technology Fund (OTF) is an American nonprofit corporation that aims to support global Internet freedom technologies. Its mission is to "support open technologies and communities that increase free expression, circumvent censorship, and obstruct repressive surveillance as a way to promote human rights and open societies." As of November 2019, the Open Technology Fund became an independent nonprofit corporation and a grantee of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Until its formation as an independent entity, it had operated as a program of Radio Free Asia.
Katherine Roberts Maher is an American businesswoman. She is the chief executive officer (CEO) and president of National Public Radio (NPR) since March 2024. Prior to NPR, she was the CEO of Web Summit and chair of the board of directors at the Signal Foundation. She transitioned to the role of non-executive chairperson at Web Summit in March 2024. She is a former chief executive officer and executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Michael L. Pack is an American documentary filmmaker who was CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) from June 2020 to January 2021. Pack was nominated by President Donald Trump and took office at USAGM in June 2020 after Senate confirmation. He resigned on January 20, 2021 at the request of President Joe Biden, effective at 2:00 p.m., two hours after Biden took office.
Stephen J. Yates is an American political advisor and government official who last served as the president of Radio Free Asia. He previously served as the deputy national security adviser to the Vice President to Dick Cheney from 2001 to 2005 and chairman of the Idaho Republican Party from 2014 to 2017. He is the CEO of consulting firm, DC International Advisory and has been in that position since 2006.
Kelu Chao is a Taiwanese American journalist. She was the acting interim CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), from January 20, 2021, to December 29, 2022.
Whistleblower Aid is a nonprofit legal assistance organization co-founded by John Tye and Mark Zaid to help whistleblowers in government and the private sector. It provides free legal services as well as support and security services for eligible clients.
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