Tim Wu

Tim Wu (吳修銘) is a professor at Columbia Law School, the chair of media reform group Free Press, and a writer for Slate Magazine. He is best known for popularizing the concept of network neutrality, which he is credited with coining during a conversation with Lawrence Lessig.fact|date=August 2008

Wu's academic specialties are copyright and telecommunications policy.fact|date=August 2008 For his work in this area, Professor Wu was named one of Scientific American's 50 people of the year in 2006.

In 2007 Wu was named one of Harvard University's 100 most influential graduates by "02138" magazine.fact|date=August 2008

Background

Wu is an American citizen, but grew up in Toronto, Canada. His father is Taiwanese and his mother is British. They both studied as immunologists at the University of Toronto.cite news|url=http://www.businessweek.com/print/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2007/db2007117_264711.htm|title=Tim Wu, Freedom Fighter|last=Ante|first=Spencer E.|date=2007-11-08|publisher=Business Week]

Wu graduated from McGill University in 1995 with a B.Sc. in chemistry, and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1998. At Harvard, he studied under copyright scholar Lawrence Lessig. He worked with the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, after graduating law school, and before starting a clerkship with Richard Posner on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 1998-1999.cite web|last=Hall|first=Jerome|tile=Tim Wu|url=http://columbialawtech.org/people/wu] Wu also clerked for Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court in 1999-2000. Following his clerkships, Wu worked at Riverstone Networks, Inc. (2000-02) and then entered academia at the University of Virginia School of Law. In 2006 he became a full Professor at Columbia Law School.fact|date=August 2008

Political contributions and activities

In 2003, Wu contributed to Dean for America and the Edwards for President.cite web|title=Tim Wu|work=Campaign Contribution Search (individual donations of $200 or more since 1978)|url=http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=VA&last=WU&first=TIM|publisher="Newsmeat.com"|accessdate=2008-08-24]

During 2008, Wu has served as an adviser to the Barack Obama presidential campaign. [cite news|url=http://www.asianweek.com/2008/03/08/asian-presidential-campaign-update-3/|title=Presidential Campaigns Asian Update|accessdate=2008-08-24]

Influence

In 2006, Wu wrote "The World Trade Law of Internet Filtering", [cite web|last=Wu|first=Tim|title=The World Trade Law of Internet Filtering|url=http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=882459|date=2006-05-06|publisher=SSRN] which analyzed the possibility of the World Trade Organization treating censorship as a barrier to trade.fact|date=August 2008 In June 2007, when Google Inc. lobbied the United States Trade Representative to pursue a complaint against China's censorship at the WTO, Wu's paper was cited as a "likely source" for this idea. [cite news|title=Google Fights Internet Censorship|last=Rugaber|first=Christopher S.|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/25/AR2007062500364_pf.html|publisher=Washington Post|date=2007-06-25]

In 2007, Wu published a paper proposing a "Wireless Carterfone" rule for mobile phone networks [cite journal|last=Wu|first=Tim|year=2007|title=Wireless Carterfone|journal=International Journal of Communication|pages=389–426|url=http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/152/96|accessdate= 2007-11-09] ; the rule was adopted by the Federal Communications Commission for the 700 MHz spectrum auctions on July 31, 2007, with FCC Commissioner Michael Copps stating: "I find it extremely heartening to see that an academic paper—in this case by Professor Timothy Wu of Columbia Law School—can have such an immediate and forceful influence on policy." [Cite pressrelease|title=Statement of FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps on the 700 MHz Service Rules|url=http://www.freepress.net/news/25059|work=Free Press Newsroom|format=Web|publisher="freepress.net" (Free Press)|date=2007-07-31|accessdate=2008-08-24]

With his Columbia Law School colleagues Professors Scott Hemphill and Clarisa Long, Wu co-directs the Columbia Law School Program on Law and Technology, founded in 2007.cite web|title=Program on Law and Technology at Columbia University School of Law|url=http://www.law.columbia.edu/center_program?&main.ctrl=contentmgr.detail&&main2.view=static.null&main.view=programs.detail&main.id=10267|work=Programs & Centers|format=Web|publisher=Columbia University|accessdate=2008-08-24] cite web|url=http://www.columbialawtech.org/|title=Program on Law and Technology at Columbia University School of Law|work=columbialawtech.org|format=Web|publisher=Columbia Law School, Columbia University|accessdate=2008-08-24] In August 2007, in collaboration with the University of Colorado School of Law's Silicon Flatirons Program, the Columbia Law School Program on Law and Technology launched a Beta version of AltLaw, which he produced.cite web|title=About AltLaw|url=http://www.altlaw.org/v1/about|accessdate=2008-08-24|quote=Written by Stuart Sierra and Paul Ohm, with help from Luis Villa and Dana Powers, and produced by Tim Wu.]

elected publications

;Books
* Goldsmith, Jack L., and Tim Wu. "Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World". New York: Oxford UP, 2006. ISBN 0195152662 (10). ISBN 978-0195152661 (13).

;Articles by Tim Wu
* [http://columbialawtech.org/publications/detail/27 "The Broadband Debate: A User's Guide"] . "Journal of Telecommunications and High Technology Law" 3.69 (2004). "Columbialawtech.org" (Columbia Program in Law and Technology, Columbia Law School, Columbia University). (Abstract; hyperlinked [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=557330 Full Text] , "Social Science Research Network (SSRN)".) Posted and last revised, January 21, 2005. Available at SSRN: .
* [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=532882 "Copyright's Communications Policy"] . "Michigan Law Review". 2005. (Abstract). "Social Science Research Network (SSRN)".
* [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=388863 "Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination"] (Abstract). "Journal of Telecommunications and High Technology Law" 2.2 (2003): 141. Available at SSRN: or DOI: <10.2139/ssrn.10.2139/ssrn.388863>. Posted June 5, 2003. Updated September 21, 2006. Accessed August 24, 2008.
* [http://www.newamerica.net/files/WorkingPaper17_WirelessNetNeutrality_Wu.pdf "Wireless Net Neutrality: Cellular Carterfone and Consumer Choice in Mobile Broadband"] . "New America Foundation: Wireless Future Program". Working Paper No. 17. February 2007. "Newamerica.net". Accessed August 24, 2008. (Web publication.)

Notes

Further reading and resources

Articles about Wu

* Schneider-Mayerson, Anna. [http://www.observer.com/node/36285 "Wu-Hoo! Nutty Professor Is Voice of a Generation"] . "The New York Observer", November 19, 2006. (Profile.)

Features by Wu

* [http://www.timwu.org/airports.htm "Airports"] . "Timwu.org". Accessed August 24, 2008. (Personal Webpage review.)
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2134670/ "Keeping Secrets: A Simple Prescription for Keeping Google's Records out of Government Hands"] . "Slate", January 23, 2006. Accessed August 24, 2008.
* [http://www.timwu.org/network_neutrality.html "Network Neutrality FAQ"] . "Timwu.org". Accessed August 24, 2008. (Personal Webpage feature; hyperlinked articles by Wu and others.)
* [http://www.timwu.org/no_ice.html "No Ice"] . "Timwu.org". Accessed August 24, 2008. (Personal Webpage feature.)
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2140850/ "Why You Should Care about Network Neutrality: The Future of the Internet Depends On It!"] . "Slate", May 6, 2006. Accessed August 24, 2008.

Audiovisual resources

*cite video|title=Futures of the Internet|medium=Flash, MP3, MP4, RealVideo, WMV, 3GP, YouTube, etc.|publisher=New York Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC–NY)|url=http://www.isoc-ny.org/?p=214|format=Viewable and downloadable Web Video clip|date=2008-04-16|accessdate=2008-08-24.

External links

* [http://www.columbialawtech.org/people/wu Tim Wu] – Faculty biography, Columbia Law School, Columbia University.
* [http://www.timwu.org/ Tim Wu] – Personal Website.
* [http://ssrn.com/author=159088 Tim Wu] – Publications and papers by Tim Wu in the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) (abstracts; full texts).