Government Antitrust Probe Of Tech Companies May Threaten Innovation

By Tim Bajarin, Forbes

Like many in Silicon Valley, I have watched the most recent moves by the FTC and other government agencies who are probing some tech companies for antitrust violations.

I have a great deal of experience with the US government going back to 1985 when I was asked to be the intermediary between the Defense Department and Intel. Long story, but in those days, outside of the government asking for Silicon Valley’s help on military projects, they had little contact with actual Silicon Valley leadership. I was known to them as a top analyst with relations with tech execs and was asked to help them connect with proper Intel execs about an issue that was highly private but had national interests in mind.

Over the years I have served on a presidential advisory board during the Bush Administration and given feedback on tech issues to three government agencies.

From these years of experience with the US government at many levels, I can say that, on average, most legislators clearly do not understand technology, how it gets developed and more specifically, how technology works. Over the last 10 years, some politicians have become a bit more savvy about some Internet issues, but they still do not really understand how technology is created and ultimately works.

Continue Reading…