Here it is, and it's quite good: http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/03/utilities http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/03/utilitie...

Here it is, and it's quite good: http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/03/utilities http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/03/utilitie... "in the long run that's a problem for Google. Because we tend not to entrust this sort of critical public infrastructure to the private sector. Network externalities are all fine and good to ignore so long as they mainly apply to the sharing of news and pics from a weekend trip with college friends. Once they concern large swathes of economic output and the cognitive activity of millions of people, it is difficult to keep the government out. Maybe that deterrent will be sufficient to keep Google providing its most heavily used products. But maybe not. I find myself thinking again of the brave new world of the industrial city, when new patterns of interaction led to enormous changes in economic activity, in culture and personal behaviour, and in the way we think. We upgraded ourselves, in terms of education, hygiene, and social norms, to maximise the return to urban life. And the history of modern urbanisation is littered with examples of privately provided goods and services that became the domain of the government once everyone realised that this new life and new us couldn't work without them"