Rebecca Eisenberg

Rebecca Lynn Eisenberg (born 1968) is an American technology writer, lawyer, entrepreneur, and columnist who covered the 1995–2001 Internet boom in San Francisco, California and Silicon Valley. She was elected to the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors in 2022, and in 2024 was censured by the board following an independent investigation into her conduct toward district staff and board members.

Biography Eisenberg graduated with a BA in Psychology from Stanford University in 1990 and a JD from Harvard Law School in 1993.

Beginning in 1995 Eisenberg was founder, General Counsel, business development executive, and/or early employee of a number of notable dot-com start-up companies including Cyborganic (the online community founded by HotWired founder Jonathan Steuer), Ecast Network, (which makes a touch screen jukebox used in bars) and PayPal. Having joined as the second lawyer at the company, Eisenberg was the Senior Counsel at PayPal for almost six years. Eisenberg became the General Counsel of Internet Ad Network startup AdBrite, Inc. from March, 2007 through September, 2008, and she served on the board of directors of the Craigslist Foundation (the nonprofit charitable wing of Craigslist) from its inception through late 2007. She was concurrently General Counsel of Pure Digital Technologies, the maker of the handheld Flip Video camcorders, from September 2007 until fall of the following year. While at Pure Digital, she handled the successful merger of the company with Cisco Systems, Inc., for more than $600 million. While providing advisory services to start-ups like The Skinny Scoop, Eisenberg was also the General Counsel of the Sequoia Capital-backed real estate search site Trulia. Eisenberg joined the social news website Reddit in May 2012, where she continues to be the General Counsel. She is active in nonprofits, including serving on the Board of Directors of Legal Momentum, formerly known as the National Organization for Women Legal Defense and Education Fund. She previously contributed to the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, and she continues to handle legal and strategic matters for certain private individuals and companies. She was also a 2020 candidate for the Palo Alto City Council, running on an economic justice and progressive values platform.

Eisenberg currently serves on the Santa Clara Valley Water District as a Director, representing District 7.

Valley Water censure and litigation

In 2024, Eisenberg was censured by the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors following an independent investigation into complaints involving her conduct toward district staff and board members. The board voted 6–1 to censure her for mishandling confidential information, and separately voted 6–1 to censure her for discriminatory harassment, abusive conduct, and improper direction to staff, allegations the district said had been substantiated by an independent investigation.

According to reporting by San José Spotlight, investigators substantiated nine of 25 complaints accusing Eisenberg of harassing or offensive conduct, while finding insufficient evidence to support eight complaints Eisenberg had made against district officials. The report described some of Eisenberg’s statements as discriminatory harassment based on sex, age, or national origin. Eisenberg disputed the findings, calling the investigation a “sham” and characterizing it as an effort to “tone police” her.

The censure also concerned Eisenberg’s removal of approximately 2,000 pages of confidential investigation reports from Valley Water headquarters in January 2024, after board members had been instructed not to remove the reports from the premises. Valley Water sued Eisenberg in Santa Clara County Superior Court seeking return of the reports. In December 2025, the California Court of Appeal for the Sixth Appellate District affirmed a preliminary injunction requiring Eisenberg to return the confidential reports, finding that the district had shown a likelihood of prevailing on its conversion claim and that the balance of harms favored the district. The Palo Alto Daily Post reported that Eisenberg admitted taking the reports but argued that only the executive summaries were labeled confidential and that the district retained digital copies.

Columns, articles, appearances, and blogs Starting in 1995 Eisenberg wrote one of the earliest blogs called "Read Me." She continued until 2000, at which time she signed off, explaining she had found "a life." The term "blog" had not yet been coined. It was known at the time as an "online diary." In 1999 she was ranked as one of the 25 most important women on the web for her contributions to technology journalism.

Other writings include: "NouveauGeek" column, MarketWatch, 1998–2001 "NetSkink" column, San Francisco Examiner, 1997–1999 Numerous articles in print, video, and online editions of the San Francisco Chronicle, Upside, Ms. Magazine, ZDTV, Entertainment Weekly, Wired, Fast Company, PBS, the Red Herring, and Bitch Moderated, lectured, and hosted various technology and business-related events including the Digital Be-In, Geekapalooza, 415Tech, and the Electric Minds conference (sponsored by Howard Rheingold's famous start-up of the same name)