Libertarianism and the Internet

I’ve always wanted to make similar arguments about the Internet, but wouldn’t I wind up being told that the Internet was in fact a government program? Wasn’t the idea to establish an intricate communications network that could survive even if part of it was blown to bits? If I’m a complete ignoramus on this, please tell me.

But the web really does tell us something about so-called public goods and free riders. Look at how many sites there are about any topic under the sun. Shakespeare, Hector Berlioz, whatever — there are tons of sites, and tons of people for whom their own personal site is a labor of love. Most such sites are free. It seems to me that your typical market-basher could never have predicted that such great things could exist in such abundance without any subsidy whatsoever.

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11:01 pm on February 18, 2004