Regulating the Internet? 'Still a very bad idea,'

Says Leading Small Business Group

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Competition is the best watchdog
for the Internet, and government should continue to stay clear of its
development, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE
Council) said today in denouncing initiatives to add layers of
regulation.

"Consider what the Internet has done for small business: it has made
the smallest shops national suppliers; it has allowed for streamlined
communication between consumers and vendors; and it has created a
global venue for entrepreneurs who are no longer restricted to bricks
and mortar store fronts. Of course, thousands of entrepreneurial
companies are powering the Internet through their important work
innovating new products including software, hardware, security systems
and much more," said SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan.

"Our lawmakers need to ensure that any legislation encourages more
investments in a competitive Internet environment. The government
cannot be given the power to give some competitors advantage over
others without full consideration for consumers. Without question,
regulatory intervention will have unintended consequences -- awful
ones. It's still a very bad idea," Kerrigan added.

Kerrigan said legislative attempts to place limits on some Internet
service providers won't make the Internet a "neutral" place, as those
who favor government intervention argue. Instead, it will slow
innovation and take away small business choice in selecting the
service that best meets their needs.

A poll released today from the Consumers Union, Freepress, and
Consumer Federation of America was clearly aimed at getting
predetermined results -- a call from consumers for more government
regulation. That in itself is really silly, according to the SBE
Council

SBE Council chief economist Raymond J. Keating countered: "This effort
for more regulation and greater government interference ignores the
tremendous benefits consumers, including entrepreneurs and small
businesses, have experienced due to market competition. It ignores
that companies have to serve customers. It ignores that special
interest advocates and government bureaucrats do not serve as the best
guides for how markets develop. Such development should be left to
businesses competing, with consumers making the final decisions as to
who succeeds and who fails."

Keating added: "Internet providers have every incentive to continue to
respond to consumer demands and needs. Government interference will
only slow the pace of innovation and bring additional costs and
artificial barriers to a market that is well served by competition."

For more information, please call SBE Council at 202-785-0238, or
visit http://www.sbecouncil.org. For more than ten years the SBE
Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit small business advocacy group, has
been working to protect small business and promote entrepreneurship.
SOURCE Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council