Joseph Lorenzo Hall Shifts Focus to Internet Society Security Portfolio as Advocacy Leadership Changes

The former CDT chief technologist says a forthcoming Online Trust and Safety Hub, cybersecurity research and safer Internet funding are now central to his work at the Internet Society.

Joseph Lorenzo Hall, the former chief technologist at the Center for Democracy & Technology, says he is concentrating on the Internet Society’s Security & Safer Internet portfolio, a remit that includes a forthcoming Online Trust and Safety Hub, cybersecurity research and safer Internet grantmaking.

Hall, now a distinguished technologist at the Internet Society, said the portfolio also covers the NDSS Symposium and the Common Good Cyber Fund. He described the work as an effort to strengthen the Internet ecosystem through online trust and safety, security research and funding.

The staffing change follows a broader division of responsibilities within the organization’s Internet policy work. Hall said he had until recently also led work on an open and trustworthy Internet, where much of the Internet Society’s policy advocacy sits. He said Raegan MacDonald is being welcomed as the organization’s new Head of Advocacy to lead that part of the mission.

That transition is intended to let Hall focus more deeply on security and safer-Internet initiatives, while connecting technical expertise, community engagement, research and funding, he said.

For compliance and technology leaders, the practical takeaway is not a new binding requirement or enforcement program. Instead, Hall’s comments point to an organizational separation between advocacy-led work on an open and trustworthy Internet and a security portfolio centered on trust and safety, cybersecurity research, convening and grantmaking.

The forthcoming Online Trust and Safety Hub is the most concrete new initiative Hall identified, but the Internet Society did not provide a launch date, geographic scope, operating model, participation criteria or compliance obligations in the interview. It also did not describe any penalties, audit mechanisms or enforcement authority associated with the hub or the broader portfolio.

Uncertainty remains around the timing and formal status of MacDonald’s appointment. Hall said the Internet Society is “welcoming” her as Head of Advocacy, but the organization’s interview did not independently specify whether she had already started in the role or set an effective date.

Hall framed the work as part of a long-running goal: helping people use the Internet in ways that are safer, more secure, more private and more empowering while preserving its openness. His current remit places that goal in a portfolio where technical research, public-interest funding and online safety efforts are expected to carry more of his attention.