On 04/25/2014 08:23 AM, Patrick W. Gilmore wrote:
On Apr 25, 2014, at 00:57 , Larry Sheldon <LarrySheldon@cox.net> wrote:
In a private message I asked if he could name a single monopoly that existed without regulation to protect its monopoly power.
I answered in a private message: Microsoft.
Kinda obvious if you think about it for, oh, say, 12 microseconds.
DeBeers Diamond cartel, which operated internationally and held an effective monopoly on the diamond market for *decades* was apparently beyond the reach of regulation to either assist or hinder them, and has only recently faded somewhat in the face of competition that they can't reach with their traditional protective tactics. The Standard Oil monopoly was obtained without the special assistance of government as well, though they were broken up by the government. The methods they used should be mandatory study for everyone. The AT&T monopoly position *was* granted (and later revoked) by the government. Net neutrality is an intervention of the government to prevent monopoly forming tactics on the part of major players, so I think it is something worth having. It is not (unfortunately) something that is a natural state for the Internet. -- Daniel Taylor VP Operations Vocal Laboratories, Inc. dtaylor@vocalabs.com http://www.vocalabs.com/ (612)235-5711