Adam Thierer asks: "Do You Really 'Save the Internet' By Regulating It?"

Hint: The answer is "no."

We gave the regulators an inch on the broadcast front and they took a mile. Once we empowered them to regulate broadcast infrastructure, the regulation of the speech delivered via broadcast platforms followed. It's an example of what Vanderbilt law professor Christopher Yoo has labeled "architectural censorship." Simply stated, if government can regulate the soapbox, it can regulate the speech delivered from that soapbox as well. Do you really think things will be different once we invite the bureaucrats in to regulate the Internet?

This also ties in neatly with my last post, on the importance of property rights to democracy, liberty, and human autonomy. Those who want the sovereign to control the Internet will soon find themselves going to Versailles, hoping to get the ear of the king's mistress (or the services of another kind of courtesan -- next year's incarnation of Jack Abramoff).