Tim Wu - Wikipedia

Tim Wu - Wikipedia
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American legal scholar (born 1972)
For the musician, see
Elephante
Tim Wu
吳修銘
Wu in 2014
Born
Timothy Shiou-Ming Wu
1971 or 1972 (age 53–54)
Washington, D.C.
, U.S.
Education
McGill University
BSc
Harvard University
JD
Known for
coining "
net neutrality
"; late 2010s revival of
antitrust
Political party
Democratic
Spouse
Kate Judge
Children
Relatives
Alan Ming-ta Wu
(father)
Gillian Edwards
(mother)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese
吳修銘
Simplified Chinese
吴修铭
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Wú Xiūmíng
Wade–Giles
Wu
Hsiu
-ming
IPA
[ǔ ɕjóʊmǐŋ]
Timothy
Shiou-Ming Wu
Chinese
吳修銘
; born 1971 or 1972) is a
Taiwanese-American
legal scholar who served as Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy at the United States from 2021 to 2023.
He is also a professor of law at
Columbia University
and a contributing opinion writer for
The New York Times
. He is known legally and academically for significant contributions to
antitrust
and communications policy,
coining the phrase "
network neutrality
" in his 2003 law journal article,
Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination
In the late 2010s, Wu was a leading advocate for an antitrust lawsuit directed at the breakup of
Wu is a scholar of the media and technology industries, and his academic specialties include antitrust,
, and telecommunications law. He was named to
The National Law Journal
s "America's 100 Most Influential Lawyers" in 2013, as well as to the "
Politico
50" in 2014 and 2015. Additionally, Wu was named one of
Scientific American
's 50 people of the year in 2006, and one of
Harvard University
's 100 most influential graduates by
02138
magazine in 2007.
10
His book
The Master Switch
was named among the best books of 2010 by
The New Yorker
11
Fortune
12
and
Publishers Weekly
13
From 2011 to 2012, Wu served as a senior advisor to the
Federal Trade Commission
14
and from 2015 to 2016 he was senior enforcement counsel at the
New York Office of the Attorney General
, where he launched a successful lawsuit against
Time Warner Cable
for falsely advertising their broadband speeds.
15
Wu also served on the
National Economic Council
in the
Obama administration
under
Jeffrey Zients
, and served under Director
Brian Deese
during the
Biden administration
In the Biden administration, Wu notably helped author the 2021
Executive Order on Competition
16
Early life and education
edit
Wu was born in
Washington, D.C.
, United States,
17
and grew up in
Basel, Switzerland
and
Toronto, Canada
18
His father,
Alan Ming-ta Wu
, was from
Taiwan
19
and his mother,
Gillian Wu
(née Edwards),
20
is a British-Canadian immunologist.
21
Wu and his younger brother were sent to alternative schools that emphasized creativity, and he became friends with
Cory Doctorow
20
Wu attended
McGill University
, where he initially studied
biochemistry
before switching his major to
biophysics
, graduating with a
B.Sc.
in 1995.
20
He then attended
Harvard Law School
, graduating with
J.D.
magna cum laude
in 1998. At Harvard, he studied under copyright scholar
Lawrence Lessig
Career
edit
After law school, Wu first spent a year at the
U.S. Department of Justice
's
Office of Legal Counsel
. He then spent two years as a
law clerk
, first for Judge
Richard Posner
on the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
from 1998 to 1999, then for Justice
Stephen Breyer
at the
U.S. Supreme Court
from 1999 to 2000.
22
Following his clerkships, Wu moved to the
San Francisco Bay Area
, worked at
Riverstone Networks
, Inc. (2000–02),
23
and then entered academia at the
University of Virginia School of Law
22
Wu was an associate professor of law at the
University of Virginia
from 2002 to 2004, a visiting professor at
Columbia Law School
in 2004, and, in 2005, a visiting professor at both the
University of Chicago Law School
and at
Stanford Law School
22
In 2006, he became a full professor at
Columbia Law School
24
The Master Switch
edit
Wu's 2010 book,
The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
, described a long "cycle" whereby open information systems become consolidated and closed over time, reopening only after disruptive innovation. The book shows how this cycle developed with the rise of the Bell
AT&T
telephone monopoly, the founding of the Hollywood entertainment industry, broadcast and cable television industries, and finally with the internet industry. He looks at the example of
Apple Inc.
, which began as a company dedicated to openness, that evolved into a more closed system under the leadership of
Steve Jobs
, demonstrating that the internet industry will follow the historical cycle of the rise of information empires (although Wu discussed Google as an important counterpoint). The book was named one of the best books of 2010 by several publications, including among others,
The New Yorker
11
Fortune
12
Amazon.com,
25
The Washington Post
26
and
Publishers Weekly
13
2014 New York lieutenant gubernatorial election and aftermath
edit
Wu at a campaign event
Main article:
2014 New York gubernatorial election
Wu ran for the Democratic nomination for
Lieutenant Governor of New York
in 2014, campaigning alongside gubernatorial candidate
Zephyr Teachout
27
Wu and Teachout ran against
Andrew Cuomo
, the incumbent governor, and
Kathy Hochul
, an upstate Democrat and former Representative in the House. Teachout and Wu ran to the left of Cuomo and Hochul. Hochul won the race for Lieutenant Governor; Wu took 40% of the popular vote.
28
Wu's campaign received an endorsement from
The New York Times
editorial board, although they offered no endorsement for the office of governor.
29
30
In a
Washington Post
interview discussing his candidacy, Wu described his approach to the campaign as one positioned against the concentration of private power: "A hundred years ago, antitrust and merger enforcement was front page news. And we live in another era of enormous private concentration. And for some reason we call all these 'wonky issues.' They're not, really. They affect people more than half a dozen other issues. Day to day, people's lives are affected by concentration and infrastructure... You can expect a progressive-style, trust-busting kind of campaign out of me. And I fully intend to bridge that gap between the kind of typical issues in electoral politics and questions involving private power."
31
In September 2015,
The New York Times
reported that Wu was appointed to a position in the Office of New York State Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman
32
During the
2018 New York Attorney General election
, Wu was mentioned as a possible candidate, though he ended up not mounting a bid.
33
Biden administration
edit
Following
Joe Biden's
election
as
President of the United States
, Wu had been mentioned as a possible appointee to the
Federal Trade Commission
, a body for which he has previously served as a senior advisor.
34
On March 5, 2021, Wu confirmed a previous report
35
that he would be joining the
Biden administration
's
National Economic Council
as a Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy.
As a member of the Biden administration, Wu was responsible for helping to author the antitrust-focused
Executive Order 14036
16
On August 2, 2022,
Bloomberg News
reported that Wu would leave the White House to return to his professorship at Columbia in the following months;
36
however, Wu responded to the report by promising to not leave his position "anytime soon".
37
On December 31, 2022,
The New York Times
reported that Mr. Wu's last day at the National Economic Council would be Wednesday, January 4, 2023, ending his 22-month tenure as special assistant to the Biden administration. Mr. Wu said he would return to his previous job, as a professor at Columbia Law School.
38
Influence
edit
Wu spoke on a panel at
Wikipedia Day
2017
Wu is credited with popularizing the concept of
network neutrality
in his 2003 paper
Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination
. The paper considered network neutrality in terms of neutrality between applications, as well as neutrality between data and quality of service-sensitive traffic, and he proposed some legislation, potentially, to deal with these issues.
In 2011, Wu joined the Federal Trade Commission as an academic in residence and Senior Policy Advisor,
39
a position later held by Paul Ohm in 2012,
40
and then by
Andrea M. Matwyshyn
in 2014.
41
Wu has appeared on the television programs
The Colbert Report
and
Charlie Rose
42
43
Wu has written about the phenomenon of
attention theft
44
including in his 2016 book
The Attention Merchants
. Wu has been described as a leading member of the
New Brandeis movement
45
46
His 2018 book,
The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age
, analyzed the history and principles of antitrust enforcement in the United States and argued that increasing corporate consolidation presented threats not only to the U.S. economy but also to the American political system.
47
Personal life
edit
Wu is married to
Kathryn Judge
, fellow Columbia law professor and lawyer. They have two daughters.
Wu has won two
Lowell Thomas Awards
for travel journalism,
48
and was on the Director's Advisory Group for the Sundance Film Festival in the late 2010s.
49
50
Selected publications
edit
Books
edit
Wu, Tim (2025).
The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity
. New York:
Knopf
ISBN
978-0-593-32124-9
).
Wu, Tim (2018).
The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age
Columbia Global Reports
ISBN
978-0-9997454-6-5
Wu, Tim (2016).
The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads
. New York:
Knopf
ISBN
978-0-385-35201-7
Wu, Tim (2010).
The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
. New York:
Knopf
ISBN
0307269930
ISBN
978-0-307-26993-5
Goldsmith, Jack L., and Tim Wu (2006).
Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World
. New York:
Oxford UP
ISBN
0195152662
ISBN
978-0-19-515266-1
Articles
edit
Wu, T. (2019, December 11). Will artificial intelligence eat the law? the rise of hybrid social-ordering systems. Columbia Law Review.
"A Historic Decision": Tim Wu, Father of Net Neutrality, Praises FCC Vote to Preserve Open Internet
Democracy Now!
, February 27, 2015. Accessed October 20, 2015.
(2013) "How the Legal System Failed
Aaron Swartz
—And Us",
The New Yorker
News Desk blog, January 14, 2013.
(2007)
"Wireless Net Neutrality: Cellular Carterfone and Consumer Choice in Mobile Broadband"
Archived
2015-02-13 at the
Wayback Machine
New America Foundation
: Wireless Future Program
. Working Paper No. 17,
Newamerica.net
"Why You Should Care about Network Neutrality: The Future of the Internet Depends On It!"
Slate
, May 6, 2006. Accessed August 24, 2008.
"Keeping Secrets: A Simple Prescription for Keeping Google's Records out of Government Hands"
Slate
, January 23, 2006. Accessed August 24, 2008.
(2003) "Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination", 2
J. on Telecomm. & High Tech. L.
141 (2003).
See also
edit
Kronos effect
Chinese Americans in New York City
Taiwanese Americans in New York City
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 2)
References
edit
Vilensky, Mike (July 27, 2014).
"Ivy League Power Propels Columbia's Tim Wu in Bid to be New York's Lieutenant Governor"
Wall Street Journal
Archived
from the original on November 5, 2018
. Retrieved
July 27,
2016
Tracy, Ryan (2021-07-09).
"Meet Tim Wu, the Man Behind Biden's Push to Promote Business Competition"
The Wall Street Journal
ISSN
0099-9660
. Retrieved
2021-07-13
"Net neutrality advocate Tim Wu joins White House"
POLITICO
. 18 August 2016.
Archived
from the original on 27 June 2018
. Retrieved
27 December
2018
Kang, Cecilia (March 5, 2021).
"A Leading Critic of Big Tech Will Join the White House"
The New York Times
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
March 5,
2021
Wu, Tim (2007).
"Wireless Carterfone"
International Journal of Communication
389–
426.
Archived
from the original on November 26, 2007
. Retrieved
September 11,
2007
Ante, Spencer E. (November 8, 2008).
"Tim Wu, Freedom Fighter"
Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Archived
from the original on September 24, 2019
. Retrieved
September 24,
2019
Wu, T. (2003). "Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination".
Journal of Telecommunications and High Technology Law
141–
179.
SSRN
388863
"Tim Wu Elected Board Chair At Free Press"
Columbia Law School
Archived
from the original on 2016-05-10
. Retrieved
2019-09-24
Lohr, Steve (July 25, 2019).
"Chris Hughes Worked to Create Facebook. Now, He Is Working to Break It Up"
The New York Times
. Retrieved
December 9,
2020
"Tim Wu"
OECD
Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy, June 2008. Archived from
the original
on January 18, 2009
. Retrieved
10 December
2008
"A Year's Reading"
The New Yorker
. December 6, 2010.
Archived
from the original on July 13, 2019
. Retrieved
September 24,
2019
– via www.newyorker.com.
Wu, T. (December 22, 2010).
"America's Original Startup: The Phone Company"
Fortune
Archived
from the original on September 24, 2019.
"Best Books of 2010"
www.publishersweekly.com
. Archived from
the original
on 11 November 2010
. Retrieved
15 January
2022
"Professor Tim Wu Named Advisor to Federal Trade Commission on Consumer Protection, Competition"
Columbia Law School
. Retrieved
2020-11-27
Lovett, Kenneth (18 December 2018).
"EXCLUSIVE: Charter/Spectrum Cable agrees to record $174M settlement for misleading customers on internet speed: AG's office - NY Daily News"
nydailynews.com
Archived
from the original on 27 December 2018
. Retrieved
27 December
2018
Cassidy, John (2021-07-12).
"The Biden Antitrust Revolution"
The New Yorker
. Retrieved
2022-11-14
"TIM WU"
. General Assembly.
Archived
from the original on September 10, 2014
. Retrieved
September 10,
2014
Sommer, Jeff (May 10, 2014).
"Defending the Open Internet"
The New York Times
Archived
from the original on September 11, 2014
. Retrieved
September 10,
2014
Chen, David W. (31 August 2014).
"Inspired by His Father's Activism, Tim Wu Is Running for Lieutenant Governor as an Outsider"
The New York Times
. Retrieved
6 March
2021
Warnica, Richard (September 6, 2014).
"Toronto superstar academic who coined 'net-neutrality' could be nominee for N.Y. lieutenant-governor"
National Post
. Retrieved
September 10,
2014
{{
cite news
}}
: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (
link
Chen, David W. (August 31, 2014).
"Inspired by His Father's Activism, Tim Wu Is Running for Lieutenant Governor as an Outsider"
The New York Times
Archived
from the original on September 4, 2014
. Retrieved
September 10,
2014
Wu, T.
"Tim Wu [faculty page]"
Columbia University
School of Law.
Archived
from the original on 2008-12-17.
Kim, Ryan (January 25, 2008).
"Net neutrality guru to speak at USF"
San Francisco Chronicle
Archived
from the original on September 11, 2014
. Retrieved
September 11,
2014
Schneider-Mayerson, Anna (November 20, 2006).
"Wu-Hoo! Nutty Professor Is Voice of a Generation"
New York Observer
Archived
from the original on September 11, 2014
. Retrieved
September 11,
2014
"Best Books of 2010: Business & Investing Top 10"
www.amazon.com
. Archived from
the original
on 14 November 2010
. Retrieved
15 January
2022
"Ezra Klein - The five best books I read this year"
The Washington Post
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-10-09
. Retrieved
2011-01-12
"Exclusive: Progressive Ticket Will Challenge Andrew Cuomo And His Running Mate In New York Primary"
BuzzFeed News
. 13 June 2014.
Archived
from the original on 2019-09-24
. Retrieved
2019-09-24
"Election 2014 - WNYC"
project.wnyc.org
. WNYC Data News.
Archived
from the original on 12 March 2018
. Retrieved
27 October
2017
"Timothy Wu for Lieutenant Governor"
Archived
2016-01-13 at the
Wayback Machine
, editorial,
The New York Times
, August 27, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
"The Governor’s Primary in New York: Governor Cuomo’s Failure on Ethics Reform Hinders an Endorsement"
Archived
2017-05-22 at the
Wayback Machine
, editorial,
The New York Times
, August 26, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-30.
Fung, Brian (June 16, 2014). "
15 questions for Tim Wu, the net neutrality scholar who’s running for N.Y. lieutenant governor
Archived
2016-03-10 at the
Wayback Machine
".
Washington Post
. washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
Kaplan, Thomas (2015-09-13).
"Tim Wu, Open Internet Advocate, Joins New York Attorney General's Office"
The New York Times
ISSN
0362-4331
Archived
from the original on 2015-09-17
. Retrieved
2015-12-07
Lovett, Kenneth (18 May 2018).
"Columbia Law professor who coined 'net neutrality' term mulling run for attorney general"
nydailynews.com
. Retrieved
2021-01-22
Hendel, John (19 January 2021).
"Media fight hits Supreme Court today"
POLITICO
. Retrieved
2021-01-22
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"Antitrust crusader Tim Wu likely landing in the White House"
Politico
Archived
from the original on March 5, 2021.
Birnbaum, Emily; Nylen, Leah; Cook, Nancy (August 2, 2022).
"Biden Adviser Tim Wu to Leave After Shaping Antitrust Policy"
Bloomberg News
. Retrieved
August 2,
2022
Birnbaum, Emily (2022-08-09).
"Biden Adviser Wu Says He's Not Planning to Leave 'Anytime Soon'
Bloomberg
. Retrieved
2022-11-24
McCabe, David (2022-12-30).
"An Architect of Biden's Antitrust Push Is Leaving the White House"
The New York Times
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2023-02-09
"Professor Tim Wu Named Advisor to Federal Trade Commission on Consumer Protection, Competition"
www.law.columbia.edu
. Retrieved
2020-11-27
"Professor Paul Ohm Named Advisor to Federal Trade Commission"
Colorado Law
. 2012-05-21
. Retrieved
2020-11-27
"FTC Names Latanya Sweeney as Chief Technologist; Andrea Matwyshyn as Policy Advisor"
Federal Trade Commission
. 2013-11-18
. Retrieved
2020-11-27
End of Net Neutrality - Tim Wu-The Colbert Report - Video Clip
, archived from
the original
on 2015-07-04
, retrieved
2016-07-18
"Charlie Rose"
Hulu
Archived
from the original on 2 June 2016
. Retrieved
27 October
2017
Wu, Tim
(April 14, 2017).
"The Crisis of Attention Theft—Ads That Steal Your Time for Nothing in Return"
Wired
. Retrieved
9 August
2021
Shay, Christopher (2018-11-13).
"Tim Wu Goes After the Titans of the New Gilded Age"
The Nation
ISSN
0027-8378
. Retrieved
2021-07-13
Nylen, Leah (July 9, 2021).
"Biden launches assault on monopolies"
Politico
. Retrieved
July 13,
2021
Cassidy, John
(July 12, 2021).
"The Biden Antitrust Revolution"
The New Yorker
Archived
from the original on July 13, 2021.
"Society of American Travel Writers Foundation Annual Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition"
SATW Foundation
Archived
from the original on 21 September 2020
. Retrieved
23 July
2020
"Sundance Annual Report 2018"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
July 22,
2021
"Sundance Annual Report 2019"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
July 22,
2021
Further reading and resources
edit
Audiovisual resources
edit
Futures of the Internet
(Viewable and downloadable
Web
Video clip
Flash
MP3
MP4
RealVideo
WMV
3GP
, etc.).
New York Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC–NY)
. 2008-04-16
. Retrieved
2008-08-24
External links
edit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Tim Wu
Official website
Tim Wu
– Faculty biography,
Columbia Law School
Columbia University
Tim Wu
– Publications and papers by Tim Wu in the
Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
(abstracts; full texts).
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