That Was Then, This is Now

Having just wiggled out from under the feds' clumsy antitrust thumb, what does Microsoft do? Turn around and beg Washington to knife someone else.

MS is a part of powerful bunch—Disney, eBay, Amazon—claiming powerlessness to continue to reach customers unless the feds ride herd on Net service providers. The group wants assurances customers can get to them "without impediments imposed by transmission-network providers."

Things get stranger still when Microsoft's big ownership stake in broadband provider Comcast is considered. Just maybe MS would love to toss up some of those "impediments" itself and wants Washington to spell out just how far it can go? Nah.