I feel like the internet, and the digital activities that happen on it, are this generation’s railroads, power, and telecommunications in the 18th and 19th cent

I feel like the internet, and the digital activities that happen on it, are this generation’s railroads, power, and telecommunications in the 18th and 19th century. They started as wild free-for-alls and evolved into regulated and stable markets with consumer protections, standardization, right to access, etc., usually after corrupt and unethical monopolies got out of hand and showed the importance of the service as a basic utility needed for a functioning country, and the need to protect it.