4 ms·

Huh? Is this the same President Obama that put Tom Wheeler in charge of the FCC? In case it isn't obvious (and since no-one else has mentioned it yet, I guess i

Huh? Is this the same President Obama that put Tom Wheeler in charge of the FCC? In case it isn't obvious (and since no-one else has mentioned it yet, I guess it's not), Tom Wheeler was a huge lobbyist for the very people who are trying to end net neutrality. I don't get calling for X then performing actions that negate X. Edit: there's another front-page story to Bloomberg that actually explicitly mentions the Tom Wheeler connection: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-10/obama-calls-for-regulating-internet-like-phone-companies.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-10/obama-calls-for-reg...

tptacek 12y ago
No, Wheeler was not a "huge lobbyist" for "the very people" working against NN. He was the president of the NCTA from the late 70s to 1984, before cable had anything whatsoever to do with the Internet. His status as an anti-neutrality lobbyist is a powerful Internet meme that does not appear to be rooted in fact.
- josh2600 12y ago
  Look, I normally agree with almost everything you say, but this is just not true. Wheeler was at the NCTA until divestiture, then he saw the writing on the wall and went to CTIA and CWA. After CWA he worked for Core which is a very industry heavy VC. Wheeler was a huge lobbyist for over 20 years, talks to Meredith at CTIA on a first-name basis and knows all of the people who run the telcos and their lobbying organizations. In some narrative, he's the perfect person to lead the FCC and in another, he's not. My opinion is that, YES, he was a lobbyist and YES he is anti-neutrality because that was the position that made the most sense at the beginning of his tenure. I'm bullish that he'll come over to the Network Neutrality side (and gave indications in that direction at CTIA Super Mobility week this year) but I think there's a chance he'll do title 2 with lots of caveats that will make this, let's say, complicated. You are right that memes aren't helpful, but Wheeler was actually the biggest lobbyist in the history of telecom, IMHO, so that much is quite true. Whether he is anti-neutrality now is up for debate, but when he took the office, well, I think there's little evidence to show he was in favor of neutrality then.
  - tptacek 12y ago
    I take your point, that Wheeler was a lobbyist for network operators for most of his career. I think "cable company lobbyist" is still a particularly dumb way to sum him up, but can see why lobbying for telcos is also scary for someone arbitrating net neutrality.
corford 12y ago
Tom Wheeler might not be the wolf in the hen house a lot of people think he is. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rayiner https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rayiner
- corford 12y ago
  That link should have been: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8584126 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8584126
none_for_me_thx 12y ago
Obama doesn't care about contradictions. He's just saying whatever he knows will get him support from credulous fools. That's how it always works. Politicians don't care about you. They don't care about the things you do.
smspence 12y ago
You don't get it. That would only be wrong if a republican president did it. When a democrat does it, it's fine.
- narrowrail 12y ago
  Please don't do this on HN. We don't need to politicize the issue among technical people; we can simply discuss the pros and cons on their merits. I, personally, don't care about political parties at all (they're a distinction without a difference, IMO).
  - smspence 12y ago
    Sorry. To me, it looked like the issue had already been politicized, and I was just throwing in a quick sarcastic remark. Didn't think it would be taken too seriously. I get your point.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > We don't need to politicize the issue among technical people Its a fundamentally political issue. It doesn't make sense to discuss "politicizing" it.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> Is this the same President Obama that put Tom Wheeler in charge of the FCC? In case it isn't obvious (and since no-one else has mentioned it yet, I guess it's not), Tom Wheeler was a huge lobbyist for the very people who are trying to end net neutrality. Tom Wheeler has been one of the three members of the FCC supporting regulations promoting net neutrality. Yes, Tom Wheeler was the leader of a cable industry lobbying organization in the past. > I don't get calling for X then performing actions that negate X. I don't think the companies -- including cable companies -- that keep suing the FCC over Wheeler's pro-neutrality efforts would agree that appointing Tom Wheeler has been a way to negate net neutrality. I agree that his past work for them might have been a valid reason to be mildly skeptical of whether he would be a supporter of neutrality when the appointment was made (but given the distance between that role and both the appointment and any connection the cable industry had to the internet, only mild skepticism.) I don't think it makes any sense, though, to treat him as an enemy of neutrality on the basis of that when he has an actual record, at the FCC, of promoting regulations moving the status quo toward neutrality.

tptacek 12y ago

No, Wheeler was not a "huge lobbyist" for "the very people" working against NN. He was the president of the NCTA from the late 70s to 1984, before cable had anything whatsoever to do with the Internet. His status as an anti-neutrality lobbyist is a powerful Internet meme that does not appear to be rooted in fact.

josh2600 12y ago
Look, I normally agree with almost everything you say, but this is just not true. Wheeler was at the NCTA until divestiture, then he saw the writing on the wall and went to CTIA and CWA. After CWA he worked for Core which is a very industry heavy VC. Wheeler was a huge lobbyist for over 20 years, talks to Meredith at CTIA on a first-name basis and knows all of the people who run the telcos and their lobbying organizations. In some narrative, he's the perfect person to lead the FCC and in another, he's not. My opinion is that, YES, he was a lobbyist and YES he is anti-neutrality because that was the position that made the most sense at the beginning of his tenure. I'm bullish that he'll come over to the Network Neutrality side (and gave indications in that direction at CTIA Super Mobility week this year) but I think there's a chance he'll do title 2 with lots of caveats that will make this, let's say, complicated. You are right that memes aren't helpful, but Wheeler was actually the biggest lobbyist in the history of telecom, IMHO, so that much is quite true. Whether he is anti-neutrality now is up for debate, but when he took the office, well, I think there's little evidence to show he was in favor of neutrality then.
- tptacek 12y ago
  I take your point, that Wheeler was a lobbyist for network operators for most of his career. I think "cable company lobbyist" is still a particularly dumb way to sum him up, but can see why lobbying for telcos is also scary for someone arbitrating net neutrality.

corford 12y ago

Tom Wheeler might not be the wolf in the hen house a lot of people think he is. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rayiner https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rayiner

corford 12y ago
That link should have been: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8584126 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8584126

none_for_me_thx 12y ago

Obama doesn't care about contradictions. He's just saying whatever he knows will get him support from credulous fools. That's how it always works. Politicians don't care about you. They don't care about the things you do.

smspence 12y ago

You don't get it. That would only be wrong if a republican president did it. When a democrat does it, it's fine.

narrowrail 12y ago
Please don't do this on HN. We don't need to politicize the issue among technical people; we can simply discuss the pros and cons on their merits. I, personally, don't care about political parties at all (they're a distinction without a difference, IMO).
- smspence 12y ago
  Sorry. To me, it looked like the issue had already been politicized, and I was just throwing in a quick sarcastic remark. Didn't think it would be taken too seriously. I get your point.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > We don't need to politicize the issue among technical people Its a fundamentally political issue. It doesn't make sense to discuss "politicizing" it.

dragonwriter 12y ago

> Is this the same President Obama that put Tom Wheeler in charge of the FCC? In case it isn't obvious (and since no-one else has mentioned it yet, I guess it's not), Tom Wheeler was a huge lobbyist for the very people who are trying to end net neutrality. Tom Wheeler has been one of the three members of the FCC supporting regulations promoting net neutrality. Yes, Tom Wheeler was the leader of a cable industry lobbying organization in the past. > I don't get calling for X then performing actions that negate X. I don't think the companies -- including cable companies -- that keep suing the FCC over Wheeler's pro-neutrality efforts would agree that appointing Tom Wheeler has been a way to negate net neutrality. I agree that his past work for them might have been a valid reason to be mildly skeptical of whether he would be a supporter of neutrality when the appointment was made (but given the distance between that role and both the appointment and any connection the cable industry had to the internet, only mild skepticism.) I don't think it makes any sense, though, to treat him as an enemy of neutrality on the basis of that when he has an actual record, at the FCC, of promoting regulations moving the status quo toward neutrality.