COVID-19 has taught us the internet is critical and needs public interest oversight

The connectivity and services built by information capitalists have become too important to be left any longer without public participation in determining the rules they follow. Critical nature of these digital services warrants public interest representation in decisions about their practices. Here are four ideas to incorporate public participation in establishing the rules for the critical services of the information era:

1. Do not pretend these challenges can be shoehorned into industrial era regulatory structures.
2. Digital companies should have a seat at the table in the development of the rules rather than having them force-fed. There should be a new federal agency that convenes, oversees, and approves a public-private process that establishes an agency-enforceable Digital Code.
3.  This new Digital Code is not a substitute for antitrust enforcement.
4. The regulatory oversight needs to be principles-based and agile

[Tom Wheeler was Chairman of the Federal Communication Commission from 2013 to 2017.]