30 years ago, the US chose restraint. We should do it again

Thirty years ago, Washington did something remarkable. In 1996, Congress passed the Telecommunications Act—a sweeping rewrite of communications law that reshaped an entire sector of the economy. It was bipartisan. It was forward-looking. And perhaps most striking in hindsight: it showed restraint. The law that helped set the stage for the internet age barely mentioned the internet at all. That wasn’t an oversight. It was wisdom. Back then, technology meant a landline on the kitchen wall, a TV with rabbit ears, maybe a pager on your belt if you were important enough. None of the computing firepower we now carry in our pockets—smartphones, apps, cloud services, AI tools—existed in anything like their current form. Lawmakers recognized they could not predict what was coming. So instead of trying to write rules for technologies they didn’t yet understand, they focused on principles—competition, openness, investment—and left room for innovation to run.

[Jonathan Spalter is president and CEO of USTelecom, which represents the nation’s broadband providers]