Rahul Telang is the Trustees professor of Information systems at the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University with a courtesy appointment at [ Tepper School of Business and Engineering and Public Policy (EPP)].

Professor Telang is broadly interested in how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and associated digitization of information impact consumers, businesses, and policies. He has done a lot of work in the digital media industry, with a particular focus on how digitization (and associated piracy) in copyrighted industries affect the incentives of content providers, distributors, and users. His research focuses on understanding and shaping an optimal copyright and intellectual property policy in the Digitization Era. He was the recipient of the Sloan Foundation Industry Study fellowship and several Google Faculty awards. He co-directs the IDEA (Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics) center and has worked extensively with industry and policymakers on a variety of issues surrounding the digitization of Media. He extensively consults on this topic and has written a popular book. Recently, he co-authored a chapter in the US Copyright Office report on the impact of AI on copyright policy (report).  

He has done extensive work on information security and privacy domains. His key interest is understanding the incentives of various parties (users, firms, and hackers), why markets fail, how to create a sound policy framework, and how to measure the effectiveness of such policies. His work explored the controversy surrounding vulnerability disclosure, vulnerability markets, and their role in generating optimal outcomes. He has examined the role of Apple privacy labels and bug bounty programs. He received the NSF CAREER award for his work on the economics of information security. He is also part of Cylab and the Institute for Infrastructure Protection (I3P). He worked on a large NSA-funded project that examined home users’ security and privacy behavior.

 Some of his other work has explored the role of broadband in schools, ICTs in the form of EMR (Electronic Medical Records) in hospitals, and so on. Currently, he is working on projects to estimate the value of skills as AI is affecting the economy.    

 Dr. Telang has published extensively in many top management and policy journals, such as Management Science, Marketing Science, ISR, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Policy and Management, and NBER chapters. He held senior editor positions at Management Science, ISR (Information Systems Research) and MIS Quarterly. Many of his papers have received top honors at journals and conferences. Over the years, he has generated extensive external funding for many projects.

Dr. Telang does extensive consulting and speaking at various firms. In particular, he has been working closely with Disney and Warner Brothers on their streaming and Home Entertainment business strategies, including pricing, streaming, and licensing plans.

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