Austin Carson is the DC-based government relations lead for NVIDIA. Previously, he served as executive director of Tech Freedom. He was formerly with the House Homeland Security Committee and Policy Advisor for Congressman Blake Farenthold (TX-27). He staffed his Judiciary assignment, allocating most bandwidth to the Intellectual Property and Regulatory Reform subcommittees with a focus on tech issues. In his position with Congressman Farenthold, Austin worked to develop legislation including the “You Own Devices Act,” (or YODA) which prevents copyrights on essential software from interfering with device ownership, and the “SPEAK FREE Act” which provides a backstop for First Amendment protections in the Internet age. Austin spends his spare time making music and talking too much about work. He also clearly prefers Star Wars over Star Trek.