Senator Warren made an analogy comparing the current internet market to the steel and railroad monopolies of the late 19th century. The ‘trains and steel’ analogy might work for the ISPs that are positioned best to abuse market power. For them I believe regulation like any utility is appropriate. Concepts of net neutrality should be the law of the land.
But once you leave the brick and mortar market for delivering the data service to the consumer, the way that content is created and marketed is less appropriate to the trains and steel analogy.
First, there are fewer barriers to market entry writing software and producing content compared to creating an ISP.
Second, the US need to regulate our data related providers may not be necessary for the largest internet content providers because the EU will do that for us. For our companies to be safe from EU enforcement and competitive internationally, the US Congress should work to harmonize things like consumer privacy with our cousins across the pond.
Finally, the key to US remaining truly competitive is to create more US workers with skills necessary to exploit the current job markets for technical skills. Computer programing should be something that every US student has access to in high school.
TimInHonolulu 