Resumen
The article discusses needs for a larger role of market regulation and communication technology in the public policy process for user control in future. According to the author, in a free-market democracy, people favor regulation when they believe the market has failed to address the concerns of society and the rights of its individual members. Technologies put individuals in control once they've learned from the manufacturer how to use them. By giving control to the individual, the number of potential market failures are limited. As people move into a networked society with ubiquitous computing, they are certain to see new market failures. The technology may give users the control necessary to allow both government and industry to create a stronger safety net with minimal intervention. There is a greater need for protections when a technology makes decisions for the individual. The possibility that technologies will take control away from the individual suggest the need for stronger baseline standards in law or greater education and industry self-regulation. Each new technology sets this regulatory balancing act in motion.