Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler discusses thirty years of experience in the cable and wireless industry, including his work on net neutrality at the FCC. Interviewed by Eric Jaffe, GLG’s Head of Research for NAFS, Wheeler discusses the importance of open networks, ubiquity of reach, privacy, and cyber security.
Interviewed by Eric Jaffe, GLG’s Head of Research for NAFS
“What we were trying to do is to say ok, ‘How do we make sure the networks are open and that there aren’t gatekeepers?’ That was the underpinning of net neutrality.”
“[At the FCC] I began to start saying, ‘What is it that provides for the common good and helps the interest of as many as possible?’ That’s what the challenge of the job is.”
About Tom Wheeler
Tom Wheeler served as the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Wheeler worked as a venture capitalist and advocate for the cable and wireless industry before becoming Chairman of the FCC, and he was a technology entrepreneur and executive at Core Capital Partners. Wheeler also served as CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, worked at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association from 1976 to 1984, and was VP of the trade group Grocery Manufacturers of America. Currently he is a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute; his personal services and investment company is the Shiloh Group. Wheeler was inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame in 2003, and in 2009 was inducted into the Cable Television Hall of Fame. He is the only member of both.
Read more:
Net Neutrality: A Guide to (and History of) a Contested Idea, The Atlantic
Tom Wheeler: The open internet’s unlikely defender, CNET
What Net Neutrality Rules Say, The New York Times