October 28, 2009 10:22AM 

# How Did the FCC Come to Acquire This Power? 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

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Jeff Eisenach and Adam Thierer have a [great essay in *The American*](http://www.american.com/archive/2009/october/coase-vs-the-neo-progressives) honoring the 50th anniversary of Ronald Coase’s article “The Federal Communications Commission.” It’s timely given the FCC’s proposal to establish public utility-style regulation of the Internet under the banner “net neutrality,” and it’s a good general warning to Neo-Progressives who “see market failure as the source of most problems, and government as the centerpiece of most solutions.”

##### Related Tags 

[Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) 

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