entities that either never got the Net, or fought like hell to control it telecom, and cable companies.
I think Felten has this right - locking things in with regulation is likely to do more harm than good. It isn't that I want the internet dominated by telecom and cable companies - but the fact is that they have to compete except over the last mile. So the solution isn't net neutrality and more government regulation, but fighting for less regulation and more competition over the last mile.
Ed Felten brings attention to a good op-ed by Tim Lee pointing this out. Despite the ridiculous claims of the large telecos that it is horribly expensive to wire the last mile, the fact is that it is the monopoly granted by local (and generally corrupt) goverments to the telecos and cable operators that prevents entry. Roger Noll has this right: it is wireless that is probably going to break the back of the last mile monopoly. So at the Federal level let's stop worrying about the side issue of net neutrality and fight to open up a lot of spectrum for wireless.
