[11888] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Telecomm regulation
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Miles R Fidelman)
Fri Apr 22 21:03:32 1994
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 1994 10:30:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: Miles R Fidelman <fidelman@civicnet.org>
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <199404220249.WAA05666@titan.sprintlink.net>
On Thu, 21 Apr 1994, Vadim Antonov wrote:
> >Regulation, by its very nature, can't
> >restore competition.
>
> Sorry, this an extremely naive statement.
> A lassies-faire (sp?) "free" market simply
> does not work -- because of economies of scale
> and formation of trusts.
>
> The whole purpose of regulation is to prevent
> forming of monopolies (or prevent "natural"
<lots of stuff deleted>
Or as I heard somebody put it "monopoly is the enemy of competition" -
regulation, while a somewhat blunt instrument, is sometimes needed to
level the playing field
My concern about regulation is that if only the big, monopolistic players
spend time and money attending regulatory hearings, while the little
entrepreneurial players run around shouting "no regulation," guess who's
views will predominate in regulation.
>
> Exactly; but *not* regulating it will mean
> back to Bell 103 days.
>
Or worse - back to the days of a dozen competing phone companies in a
city, none of whom would connect their networks together (do I hear
parallel TCP/IP, X.25, ISDN, and Cable networks with no interconnection?)
Miles
**************************************************************************
Miles R. Fidelman mfidelman@civicnet.org
Executive Director 91 Baldwin St. Charlestown MA 02129
The Center for Civic Networking 617-241-9205 fax: 617-241-5064
Check out our gopher server:
CCN - The Center for Civic Networking
on the list of all gopher servers in the world.
Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces for the 21st Century
Let's Start With: Internet Wall-Plugs Everywhere
Then We Can Worry About: "Switched, Interactive, Broadband Services"
**************************************************************************
