Technological Sovereignty in Radiotelegraphy: From the Composite System to the Navy’s Network, 1899-1906

• In Event: Radio Voices: Cultures, Networks, and Ideologies

Abstract

Control over global communications networks is central to world leadership, but much remains unclear about the relationship between the two. In the pages below, I apply a framework I am developing for understanding network control to analyze the development of technological sovereignty in radiotelegraphy as an important component of gaining control over the radio connections of the United States to the external world. By establishing “a composite system” to counter the Marconi Company’s drive toward an integrated global radio network and erecting stations to connect the mainland to U.S. territories, the Navy Department was on its way to establishing autonomy of communications. These years, however, revealed another problem that would need attention: was the legal system perhaps too permissive in granting the same rights to the subsidiary of a foreign multinational corporation as it did to companies without global ties?

Author

• Rita Zajacz, U of Iowa