In 2021, Cyrus and four of his colleagues from NBC News won a James Madison Freedom of Information Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter for their reporting on Amazon and Covid. He also won awards from SPJ NorCal for technology reporting in 2019 and 2017.
In addition to being a radio producer and author, Cyrus was most recently an investigative tech reporter at NBC News (2019 – 2021) and a senior tech policy reporter at Ars Technica (2012 – 2019). He was also previously the sci-tech editor and host of “Spectrum” at Deutsche Welle English, Germany’s international broadcaster (2010 – 2012).
Cyrus is the author of multiple books, including Habeas Data (2018) and The Internet of Elsewhere (2011). Praised by The New Yorker, among others, Habeas Data takes a look at legal cases that have had an outsized impact on surveillance law in America. His first book focuses on the history and effects of the Internet on different countries around the world.
Cyrus has also reported for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio, Public Radio International, The Economist, Wired, The New York Times, Slate, and many others. He received his B.A. in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley and his M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Based in Oakland, California, Cyrus is happy to nerd out anytime on bikes, Star Trek, and public records requests.
Email: cfarivar@cfarivar.org // cfarivar@forbes.com // cfarivar@protonmail.com
Mobile/Signal/WhatsApp: +1.341.758.0888
Twitter: @cfarivar
Mastodon: @cfarivar@journa.host
Updated: May 2, 2023