The opening of the American west created unprecedented opportunities for ordinary people. The California gold rush alone offered tens of thousands of people, drawn from every corner of the globe, the chance to pick gold up off the ground. Not surprisingly, they flocked to California and spread out across the west in search of more gold. In the process, they turned what had been a quiet provincial backwater into a fast-growing, diversified economy. While the Internet is not quite offering gold on the ground, it is offering something close.
Technology companies are just the better known Internet success stories.
On a smaller scale, opportunities abound. I buy most of my books and CDs from Internet stores. The free market has made us all better off. Because we can access information anywhere around the globe, the Internet frees us from geographic constraints on our activities. That means regulators lose a significant amount of control over our lives.