Tim Wu

Tim Wu is an American academic who ran unsuccessfully in the 2014 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor of the state of New York. He is best known for coining the phrase network neutrality (Net Neutrality) in his paper "Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination",[3] and popularizing the concept thereafter, leading in part to the 2010 passage of a federal Net Neutrality rule.[4][5][6] Wu has also made significant contributions to wireless communications policy, most notably with his "CarterFone" proposal.[7] Wu is a scholar of the media and technology industries, and his academic specialties include antitrust, copyright, and telecommunications law. In 2013, Wu was named to National Law Journal's "America's 100 Most Influential Lawyers." Additionally, Wu was named one of Scientific American's 50 people of the year in 2006, and in 2007 Wu was named one of Harvard University's 100 most influential graduates by 02138 magazine.[1] His book The Master Switch was named among the best books of 2010 by The New Yorker magazine,[8] Fortune magazine,[9] Publishers Weekly,[10] and other publications. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wu

http://www.timwu.org/

http://www.law.columbia.edu/fac/Tim_Wu

Master Switch ISBN:0307390993

  • Cory Doctorow: In Master Switch, we have a brilliant explanation and history of what Wu calls "the Cycle," through which information industries rise, consolidate, monopolize, capture governments, force out competitors, and, eventually, fragment into something less grandiose, less perfect, but more vibrant, open, and innovative... he makes a convincing case that information industries are different -- the basis for every political revolution, every genocide, a "claim that can't be made of orange juice, heating oil, running shoes, or dozens of other industries." The uniqueness of communications as an industry means that regulation and markets fail more often around them, and that the failures are worse. In response to this, Wu builds the case for a set of principles around information industry ownership, concentration, and structure, and proposes that these be regulated largely by an "information morality" -- not by a single regulatory agency or a single statute book, but ultimately by an emergent consensus about the value of information freedom as a vital substrate for Free Speech and free societies.*

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