“As part of National Consumer Protection Week, the Federal Trade Commission has launched a campaign to protect bidders in online auctions. The FTC issued a report highlighting 35 instances of fraud and has arranged a program in which customers on eBay, the largest Internet auction site, may report fraud to the FTC directly from the eBay website. Certainly fraud should be criminally prosecuted, but does that justify FTC regulation of the Internet? Of course there are risks with online auctions and E-commerce, but the Internet’s success is due largely to the fact that it is the epitome of freedom from government regulation. Permitting government agencies to regulate the Internet simply because there’s fraud on the Internet will begin the slippery slope of losing autonomy. Government should defend property rights and prosecute fraud but leave the Internet free of both regulations and taxes.”
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Internet Autonomy”
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