[10474] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Privatize the Net
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dennis Moncrief)
Fri Feb 25 06:51:25 1994
Return-Receipt-To: <moncrief@d3.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 1994 12:05:28 -0700
To: com-priv@psi.com
From: moncrief@d3.com (Dennis Moncrief)
Cc: jberman@eff.org (Jerry Berman)
As a new subscriber to comp-priv, I've enjoyed the wide ranging debate
these last two weeks. Especially on such topics as proposed new Net rate
structures, the changing role of government regulation and subsidy,
Clipper, and egalitarian goals like guaranteed access for the masses.
My two cents worth: Privatize the Net
It's pointless to expect meaningful progress to result from "fine tuning"
or even major reform to current government regulation regarding public
networks. Privatization of a wholly commercial Net with a bare minimum of
government regulation (keep the peace and defend property rights -the just
role of the limited government defined in the US Constitution) and zero
subsidy will result in the most rapid advancement and greatest benefit to
all.
Free markets have historically proven more effective at delivering intended
results across all areas of human endeavor than government programs or
experiments in collusion and monopoly-building between big government and a
few privileged big business insiders. Grand experiments based on the false
assumptions of state socialism always cost more and deliver less than
market driven initiatives undertaken by free enterprise.
Who among us can reasonably place our trust in our current government
leaders - the same "leaders" who have run up an unprecedented national debt
that threatens to bankrupt us all - to shepherd and "regulate" something so
vital to global commerce and future prosperity as the Net. I say, get
government out of the way and let business rock and roll! The Net is too
important to trust to government. Let's get it right this time - it's
business, not government, that efficiently creates new technology and turns
it into wealth and prosperity.
"I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public
debt as the greatest of dangers. . . we must make our choice between
economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we can prevent the
government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of
caring for them, they will be happy."
-- THOMAS JEFFERSON
What would Thomas Jefferson have to say (were he alive today) about the
appropriate role of the current administration regarding the public
networks? Would Al Gore's National Information Highway hyperbole stand up
under Jefferson's scrutiny as anything more than just more government. . .
"wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of caring for them..."
----
Dennis Moncrief
Internet: moncrief@d3.com
