This paper analyzes one of the, if not the single most, important developments of the digital age – the creation and deployment of the Internet.  It shows that U.S. dominance in the Internet was an example of a uniquely American approach to political economy, a combination of experimental entrepreneurialism in markets governed by aggressive policies of an entrepreneurial state.

It outlines the historical, legal, and economic underpinnings of regulation and oversight of communications networks in the U.S. that created its success and leadership in the development and deployment of the digital communications sector. The report demonstrates that the recent rollbacks of net neutrality protections threaten to undermine a long record of American entrepreneurial success online.