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Regulating the Internet Won't Increase Competition

Policy analyst Timothy B. Lee writes in an op-ed in today's New York Times that

It�s tempting to believe that government regulation of the Internet would be more consumer-friendly; history and economics suggest otherwise. The reason is simple: a regulated industry has a far larger stake in regulatory decisions than any other group in society. As a result, regulated companies spend lavishly on lobbyists and lawyers and, over time, turn the regulatory process to their advantage.

Economists have dubbed this process �regulatory capture,� and they can point to plenty of examples.

Governments very rarely prevent monopolies, trusts, or cartels from forming - far more often they create them. We mustn't let the internet become yet another example of this. The market forces are sufficient to solve most of the existing problems (I would say: all the problems except those that previous government regulation created). More regulation will only make things worse.