Title: Do we really need the Internet? | InfoWorld
Headings: Do we really need the Internet?
The Deep End
Do we really need the Internet?
One FCC commissioner appears to think that we don't, but perhaps he doesn't understand the question

Content: The Internet cannot be stopped
Understand how the Internet economy works
Follow the law; don’t make it up
Internet access is not a necessity or basic human right
The benefits of regulation must outweigh the burdens
The first three points are useful, even obvious. I suppose we can't assume the officials charged with regulating the Internet would think that it could or should be stopped, though the deficiencies of certain legislators and regulators never fail to disappoint. [ Also on InfoWorld: How to roll your own VPN, the open source, low-cost way. | Get expert networking how-to advice from InfoWorld's Networking Deep Dive PDF special report. ] As for the second point, I agree that regulators might need to understand the Internet economy in order to determine the best way to handle potentially sticky regulatory questions. But truly, who can understand an economy where a single mobile app built by a company with 50 employees can be sold for more money than the GDP of Iceland, Barbados, and 43 other countries? O'Rielly's statements there are understandable and mostly laudable, including the following: It’s important to understand the interaction between funding, revenues, advertising, data usage, jobs, and growth before rushing in to experiment with new regulatory schemes or impose old rules on the Internet economy.