eBay Invites Internet Regulation, Backs Online Gambling Ban - as reported by Fox News
Rep. Bob Goodlatte is in the process of pushing through Congress a bill that would "ban" Internet gambling. I've previously explained why the bill is bad public policy.
But since that column, it has come to light that online auction giant eBay has thrown its support behind Goodlatte's efforts. Why would an Internet company open its arms to congressional regulation of the Internet?
Some speculate that eBay is attempting to win favor with Goodlatte, who also happens to sit on the Congressional Internet Caucus. There's probably some truth to that. But there's another, more likely explanation for eBay selling out the e-commerce world: Good, old-fashioned protectionism.
First, a brief history lesson is in order.
eBay owns PayPal, the popular, online payment system favored by millions of auction sites, membership-based, sites, and bloggers. This wasn't always the case. PayPal was actually founded in the late 1990s by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, two libertarian-minded Silicon Valley entrepreneurs with a revolutionary vision. Thiel and Levchin saw the potential for PayPal to grow into a kind of private currency.
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Who gives a rats-ass what ebay thinks about those issues anyway? |
