Will the Essential Network of the 21st Century Go Unsupervised? The Return of Net Neutrality

On April 25, the Federal Communications Commission will address the issue of net neutrality at their Open Meeting. In advance of this important vote, Tom Wheeler, former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission, discusses what the future may hold. Read his analysis on whether AI makes the fight for net neutrality even more important.​

This seminar is part of our Technology & Regulation series. 

This event is in-person only, limited to HUID holders. Lunch will be served.

M-RCBG welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs. To request accommodations or ask questions about access provided, please email​mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu.

Tom Wheeler is a businessman and author and was Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2013 to 2017. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at M-RCBG where he will contribute to a seminar series on Big Tech, global tech policy and tech regulation, while collaborating on a paper on related topics. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution and holds a joint appointment as a Senior Fellow at HKS’ Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy . For over four decades, Wheeler has been involved with new telecommunications networks and services. At the FCC he led the efforts that resulted in the adoption of Net Neutrality, privacy protections for consumers, and increased cybersecurity, among other policies. As an entrepreneur, he started or helped start multiple companies offering innovative cable, wireless and video communications services. He is the only person to be selected to both the Cable Television Hall of Fame and the Wireless Hall of Fame, a fact President Obama joked made him “the Bo Jackson of telecom.” Tom Wheeler’s newest book is Techlash: Who Makes the Rules in the Digital Gilded Age? He is also the author of From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future (Brookings Press, 2019), Take Command: Leadership Lessons from the Civil War (Doubleday, 2000), and Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War (HarperCollins, 2006).