Is it safe to leave the backbone to the government sector? Would a government agency in charge of communication backbone necessarily be efficient, competent, and innovative? Might it use its power to suppress whatever communications the politicians currently in power do not want people to receive?

We have crossed swords in the learned Mr. Burbidge’s comments section before. As I recall, you wanted the government to ban advertising, and other speech by Nazis and anyone else “having an attack of supremacy”; my view was and is that, aside from other objections, we cannot trust the government with this kind of power, which might end up being used in ways you really would not like.