Computer Science Distinguished Lecturer Series: Tim Wu
Tim Wu of Columbia University School of Law presents his lecture Network Neutrality: Competition, Innovation, and Nondiscriminatory Access.
The best proposals for network neutrality rules are simple. They ban abusive behavior like tollboothing and outright blocking and degradation. And they leave open legitimate network services that the Bells and Cable operators want to provide, such as offering cable television services and voice services along with a neutral internet offering. They are in line with a tradition of protecting consumer’s rights on networks whose instinct is just this: let customers use the network as they please. No one wants to deny companies the right to charge for their services and charge consumers more if they use more. But what does need to be stopped is raw discrimination that is nothing more than a tax on innovation taken by government-supported corporations.
Tim Wu is a professor at Columbia Law School. He is the co-author of Who Controls the Internet? (Oxford U. Press 2006), and a writer for Slate Magazine. In 2006 Wu was recognized as one 50 leaders in science and technology by Scientific American magazine for his work on Network Neutrality theory.
Tim Wu previously worked for Riverstone Networks in the telecommunications industry in Silicon Valley, and was a law clerk for Judge Richard Posner and Justice Stephen Breyer. He graduated from McGill University (B.Sc), and Harvard Law School, and has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Chicago, and Stanford Law School.
Wu has written for various legal publications, and also the Washington Post, Forbes Magazine, Slate Magazine, Playboy, and others. He is on the advisory board of Free Press, Public Knowledge, and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and once worked at Hoo's Dumplings.