2023-02-16

The dated concept of 'network neutrality'


Tim Wu is a very clever and elegant Columbia University law professor whom I had the pleasure of meeting on one or two occasions. He is perhaps best known for coining the phrase 'network neutrality', now 20 years ago. This was at a time when it was not yet quite clear that the telecommunications firms would turn into simple dumb pipes and that a handful of content providers would be the kings and queens of the new media landscape. I understand that Tim has moved on to other things, including having served as a special assistant to the Biden administration. Somehow, the concept he gave birth to in 2003 lives on even though it is becoming more irrelevant by the day. I discuss this further in a guest blog at Strand Consult: Twenty years of ‘network neutrality’ – time for a break?