Aplus.net Blog

Dick Armey, a former high-profile U.S. Congressman from Texas who was House Majority Leader for the Republicans from  1995 to 2003, recently issued a strong statement to the U.S. Treasury Department urging restraint regarding the regulation of online business practices.

In an analysis that has a lot in common with the basics of net neutrality, Armey urges the U.S. executive leadership to maintain the Internet’s relative freedom, arguing that to begin implementing restraints would threaten “the open dynamic that has generated so much for consumers.”

The Internet, which Armey says “has done more to shape society over the last 10 years than any other technological innovation, transforming communications, business, and entertainment,” has only prospered as much as it has because of the relative lack of regulation placed upon it, he argues.

Armey’s statement was issued specifically as an argument against the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), but is applicable to all online regulation. Armey cites the UIGEA as a dangerous first step in government intrusion into a free market and stifling the free flow of information and commerce with unnecessary regulation.

Armey doesn’t argue that illegal online behavior should be allowed unfettered; he simply makes the case that such regulation has to be carried out with the greatest caution, and that the vague wording of UIGEA opens the door to a whole world of wrong-headed regulation because of the precedent it sets.

Whether you’re for or against the government getting more involved in regulating online affairs, Armey’s statement is an interesting read. Check it out here.

What do you think? Should the government take a greater role in regulating online activity? Or do you think regulatory activities would threaten online business, which is quickly becoming the backbone of the American economy? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts.