Powerful government agencies have become infested with modern socialists who realize they can control the economy not by formal government takeovers but by countless, far-reaching regulations that dictate how enterprises must operate. Now these latter-day Marxists are moving to bag the biggest trophy of all: the internet. The Federal Communications Commission has just decreed that internet providers are common carriers and thus can be regulated like the old rotary telephone companies.
These controls, dubbed net neutrality, happened for a time under the Obama administration, and the results were baleful. The Trump administration scrapped net neutrality. Investment boomed, real wireless prices fell, and access to high-speed internet surged. At a time when high-tech changes are accelerating, Biden wants to turn back the clock. Beijing and Moscow are delighted.