Six Revealing Quotes From Obama’s New FCC Nominee, Tom Wheeler

Tom Wheeler, reportedly the nominee to chair the Federal Communications Commission, now faces confirmation by the Senate, but that's perhaps the last place to turn for insight into what the candidate really thinks on tech policy. A far more interesting set of opinions can be found on Wheeler's blog, which he's kept since May 2007.

1. On network neutrality, Wheeler tried to convince network operators to back the FCC's policy.
2. Clinging to the comfy economics of scarcity by moving content behind pay walls won’t bring yesterday back. ... The name of the game is how to make money out of abundance, not how to maintain scarcity.
3. On the privatization of space exploration, Wheeler likened NASA to a telecom monopoly.
4. On reallocating spectrum more efficiently, he argued for a kind of lightly managed chaos
5. On Internet privacy, Wheeler proposed entrusting network operators rather than content providers or Web companies themselves.
6. Wheeler hinted at his favor for 2011's failed AT&T/T-Mobile merger—not because it would've been good for consumers, or for the businesses themselves, but because it would've given the FCC more jurisdiction to regulate mobile broadband.