Most Americans don't think about antitrust law when they look at their cable bill, flip channels on TV, or worry about what their favorite website knows about them. But they should.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Regardless of the industry, antitrust law is meant to benefit consumers - not competitors.
From search and books to online TV and operating systems, antitrust affects our daily digital lives in more ways than we think.
Antitrust law isn't about protecting competing businesses from each other, it's about protecting competition itself on behalf of the public.
If policymakers are serious about avoiding a society of TV 'haves and have-nots,' they should refrain from policies that favor pay-TV operators over the providers of our nation's only free and local communications system: over-the-air broadcasting.
And the consumer doesn't care. They don't watch networks, they watch TV shows.
Vigilant and effective antitrust enforcement today is preferable to the heavy hand of government regulation of the Internet tomorrow.
Americans hate their cable companies - for bumbling installers, on-again-off-again transmissions, peculiar channel selections, and indifferent customer service. The only thing cable subscribers hate more than the cable company is not being able to get what it delivers: multichannel selection and good reception.
Amazon is not a monopoly or a monopsony, and even if it were, that by itself isn't illegal.
Any 'network neutrality' rule should be designed to forbid phone or cable companies from controlling the Internet.
Antitrust is the way that the government promotes markets when there are market failures. It has nothing to do with the idea of free information.