Tom Wheeler

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“The Politics Of It Have Always Seemed Especially Tricky For The FCC”

November 11, 2014 in Excerpts, Politics, Science/Tech | Permalink

Timothy Wu, the Columbia law professor who coined the term “net neutrality,” spoke on the topic with Nancy Scola of the Washington Post on the day President Obama strongly urged the FCC to treat the Internet as a public utility. An excerpt:

“Question:

Even if you accept that Title II reclassification has the clearest legal runway, the politics of it have always seemed especially tricky for the FCC.

Timothy Wu:

Oh yeah. The law’s not hard. The politics are hard.

Question:

So what does Obama’s statement do to the politics?

Timothy Wu:

The FCC was leaning toward a slightly more compromised approach, and I suppose having the White House do this could leave them feeling like they have no allies and are unwilling to act for a while. I imagine they’re not very happy over there.

Question:

Chairman Wheeler’s statement on Obama’s move actually, seemed, well, pretty sassy. It emphasized how the FCC is an independent agency…

Timothy Wu:

I think the FCC had settled, and may still be settled, on a different way of using Title II. And without the White House on its side and with Congress against it, they’re kind of in that middle of the road area where you get run over. Politically, they’re stranded right now, and I’m not sure what that means from them. Wheeler seems to be indicating that they’re going to push the hold button on net neutrality, which could be a disappointing outcome if that hold button stays there for a very long time.

Question:

Their argument seems to be that they haven’t developed the record to be able to defend a Title II-based approach in court. But Title II has been around for 80 years.

Timothy Wu:

‘We don’t have the record yet’ is agency-speak for, ‘we gotta figure out what to do next.’ They can act without the White House and without Congress, but no one one in Washington likes to go it alone. It’s very precarious.”

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“During Great Battles The President Would Even Sleep In The Telegraph Office, Just To Be Close To His Oracle”

May 25, 2012 in Excerpts, Politics, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

From “The First Wired President,” Tom Wheeler’s smart New York Times Disunion post about Abraham Lincoln’s embrace of technology:

“Up until May 1862 Lincoln had sent, on average, a little over one telegram a month. But things changed when a telegraph office was opened next door to the White House, in the War Department. On May 24 the president had his online breakout, sending nine telegrams. That week he would send more than all his previous messages, combined. From May 24 — 18 years to the day since Morse had first tapped out ‘What hath God wrought’ — forward, Lincoln and the telegraph were inseparable.

The new telegraph office became the first Situation Room. Several times a day the president would walk into the telegraph office, sit down at the desk of its manager and begin going through the copies of all telegrams received, whether addressed to him or not. During great battles the president would even sleep in the telegraph office, just to be close to his oracle.

Using the telegraph to extend his voice was an obvious application of the technology. ‘You are instructed…to put twenty thousand men (20,000) in motion at once for the Shenandoah,’ the president ordered Gen. Irvin McDowell on May 24. Less obvious, however, was how Lincoln made the telegraph his eyes and ears to distant fields and the keyhole into his generals’ headquarters. As he sat in the telegraph office reading messages, he gained insights, felt the pulse of his Army in the field and reacted.”

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