Opinion: Will Trump break the internet?

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Monday, April 17, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( The guest writer of today’s newsletter is Clay Risen, the deputy Op-Ed editor. Donald Trump has the freewheeling, broadly democratic internet to thank for his still-shocking climb to the presidency. Now that he’s in office, though, his administration is taking steps to fundamentally alter, if not destroy, the internet as we know it — so argues [Susan Crawford]( a Harvard law professor and one of the country’s top experts in telecommunications regulation, in [an Op-Ed]( today. I’ve followed Crawford’s work for years — among other things, she’s the author of “[Captive Audience]( The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age.” So when President Trump installed Ajit Pai, a fiercely antiregulatory member of the Federal Communications Commission, as the new head of that agency, I knew she’d have something to say. That was a few months ago, but we agreed that we should wait to see what Pai would do in his new post before letting her loose. According to Crawford, the results — above all, a [frontal assault]( on the F.C.C.’s net neutrality rule — haven’t surprised her. “Chairman Pai is willing to ignore anything or anyone that doesn’t fit with his world view: that unconstrained markets for infrastructure will magically provide all the benefits that people could ever reasonably want,” she told me. “He’s a skilled speaker who enjoys using pop culture references to connect with his audiences.” Trump’s F.C.C. isn’t the only place taking aim at the internet. Congress, in a party line vote, recently [approved a bill]( to give telecom providers greater access to consumer information online — a move that privacy advocates say gives them dangerously in-depth access to our personal information. And while Trump [talked]( a good game about opposing big-business mergers on the campaign trail, he and members of Congress are being [lobbied]( aggressively by the telecom industry to approve a coming wave of mergers, something Crawford and others say will mean even less consumer choice, higher prices and poorer service — at a time when the quality of America’s internet access, broadly speaking, is falling well behind that of countries like Sweden, South Korea and Japan. The problem, as Crawford sees it, is that Pai and other antiregulation advocates misunderstand the nature of the telecom industry. “Basic communications infrastructure isn’t like any other commodity product,” she said. “Left to their own devices, private telecom companies will systematically consolidate to control richer and denser areas, avoid capital expenditures like upgrading to fiber, and leave out thinly-populated or poorer areas. “It’s not evil; it’s just how markets work. But today high-capacity internet access is a utility, like electricity and water,” she added. “Without government intervention we’ll leave millions of Americans behind and rob ourselves of the opportunity to lead the world in innovation and job creation.” The full Opinion report from The Times follows. David Leonhardt is off today. Editorial [President Trump’s Loose Talk on North Korea]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD He must avoid overconfidence and bombast in dealing with the North, which adds to the fears driving its nuclear program. Op-Ed Columnist [100 Days of Horror]( By CHARLES M. BLOW Access, inclusion and justice are being assailed by Trump. Op-Ed Columnist [Why Don’t All Jobs Matter?]( By PAUL KRUGMAN Economic pain, beyond coal and manufacturing. ADVERTISEMENT Op-Ed Contributor [Donald Trump’s Multi-Pronged Attack on the Internet]( By SUSAN CRAWFORD Americans hate their internet providers. So why is the president giving them more power? Editorial [The L.G.B.T. 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