“It’s not alarmist, given the plain-as-day trajectory of policies – including the FCC’s own recent actions – to suggest that the Net’s promise is in jeopardy. A few giant media and telecommunications companies could well grasp full control of the Net. Earlier this year, the FCC gave U.S. regional phone companies the right to control access to their high-speed data pipes. This basically mirrored earlier policies allowing the cable companies, which also created networks by getting government-granted monopolies, to refuse to share access to their lines. In other words, U.S. high-speed data access will soon be under the thumb of two of the most anti-competitive industries around.”