Krugman on "Digital Robber Barons", nyt 6 Dec

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

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From: Tim Finin <finin () cs umbc edu>
Organization: http://CSEE.UMBC.EDU/
Reply-To: finin () cs umbc edu
Date: Thu, 05 Dec 2002 23:52:12 -0500
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Krugman on "Digital Robber Barons", nyt 6 Dec

Digital Robber Barons?
Paul Krugman, NY Times, December 6, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/06/opinion/06KRUG.html

Bad metaphors make bad policy. Everyone talks about the
"information highway." But in economic terms the
telecommunications network resembles not a highway but the
railroad industry of the robber-baron era - that is, before
it faced effective competition from trucking. And railroads
eventually faced tough regulation, for good reason: they had
a lot of market power, and often abused it.

Yet the people making choices today about the future of the
Internet - above all Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission - seem unaware of this
history. They are full of enthusiasm for the wonders of
deregulation, dismissive of concerns about market power. And
meanwhile tomorrow's robber barons are fortifying their
castles.

...



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