Wheeler, PK Adviser Recommend New Agency to Police Digital Platforms

Congress should create a new Digital Platform Agency to oversee the digital marketplace, said ex-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Public Knowledge Senior Adviser Gene Kimmelman in a paper released Thursday. Phil Verveer, lead counsel in U.S. v. AT&T, also co-wrote the paper. Dominant tech companies followed their own rules to the detriment of consumers, they wrote. The group recommended an agency “with a new, agile approach to oversight built on risk management rather than micromanagement.” The group envisions an enforceable code of conduct for digital activities: “These markets are so wide ranging and self-reinforcing that our existing powers are not sufficient to address them.”