NOAM COHEN is the former tech columnist for The New York Times where he wrote the “Link by Link” column from 2007 to 2013 covering the influence of digital technologies on global culture and the economy, including some of the Times’ earliest coverage of Wikipedia, Bitcoin, and Twitter. His front page stories reported on the first big Wikileaks leak (co-reported with Brian Stelter in 2010), Wikipedia’s contributor gender gap in 2011, and the investigation and death of Reddit co-founder and Internet activist Aaron Swartz in 2013. Cohen has also contributed to publications such as New York Magazine and Dissent and has appeared on NPR’s Talk of the Nation and the award-winning documentary Page One.

Whether interviewing Julian Assange or writing about the early adopters of Bitcoin, Cohen spotlights the real people behind the companies and technology of Silicon Valley. His notably humane approach to the tech industry is exemplified in the obituary of the Wikipedia editor Adrianne Wadewitz, who focused on building its catalogue on female authors and women’s history, and Cohen’s feature about the onset phenomenon of Twitter ghost writers for high-profile names like 50 Cent and Britney Spears to Ron Paul. Cohen’s op-eds drawing the ties between Silicon Valley and disruption culture with Trump’s candidacy and election ran in The New York Times in July 2016 and November 2016, respectively.

Noam Cohen lives in Brooklyn with his family.