No Recovery for the Internet?

Along the lines of my post on small victories in the fight to maintain the Internet’s freedom, David McClure says :

The Internet industry, which once led the economy and set new levels of productivity for the nation, is stagnant. The stagnation is due primarily to the incoherent, conflicting and threatening policies of the federal government. …

Efforts to cut away unnecessary regulation and spur investment are hopelessly stalled. …

When [broad-ranging new taxes on the Internet are passed], the magnificent economic machine that is the Internet will slowly grind to a stop, as companies and consumers cut back their use of the Internet, service providers go bankrupt under the crush of tax compliance from 7,200 taxing authorities and the dream of a connected America is quietly killed by state and local tax commissars.

Now, as I’ve said before, I disagree with McClure that the Internet needs anti-spam legislation, but his points on regulation and taxation are dead-on.

Also, as pointed out in the comments to my previous post, some people are making sure the Internet cannot be regulated.