Diplomacy and the invention of telephony and wireless communication – July 2014
Part of the Advanced Diplomatic Webinars series.
The telephone facilitated close contact among heads of state, including various ‘red lines’ for urgent communication. Wireless communication – mainly radio – was used by late arrivals to global telecom geo-politics (mainly Germany) to close the gap with established ‘cable powers’ (e.g. the United Kingdom).
Some diplomatic issues – security, privacy, neutrality – that were raised in the international policy surrounding telephony and wireless communication are still discussed today in the context of Internet governance.
