Just a decade ago, SMS messages in the US cost 10 to 25 cents per SMS. You also got charged for spam SMS. Prices were completely disjointed from the reality of

Just a decade ago, SMS messages in the US cost 10 to 25 cents per SMS. You also got charged for spam SMS. Prices were completely disjointed from the reality of underlying costs (zero for the telcos). My college CS professor gave senate testimony on this: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/keshav_testim https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/keshav_testim... (side rant: in the following ten years, the tech giants sweeped in, competed, provided a better service, with better cross-platform support, for zero dollar immediate cost to the end customer -- gained a massive following (think whatsapp), and are now vilified for their "monopoly" and the "harm" it has caused.) My read of this situation is: - Real monopolies (esp Telco) have entrenched lobbying bases - Tech has done a poor job at lobbying, possibly due to idealism that logic wins even though thats now how things work in the US - Tech has disrupted so much that they now have multiple industries as enemies - Tech is concentrated enough geographically that there is some jealousy against this sector "over there" raking in too much money, even if they have provided an amazing service