Left In The Buggy: E-Commerce Is Seen As Threat To Slow Middlemen.(A)(GUESTEDIT)

Byline: John F. Kerry &||Robert Atkinson||[GUESTLEAD]In the 1920s, the Horse and Mule Association of America vigorously campaigned to limit the use of trucks on public roads and successfully waged a nationwide campaign to prohibit car + parking on principal streets.||

Eighty years later - in spite of history's lesson that progress can be slowed but never stopped by heavy-handed political tactics - some still try.

Efforts to stymie technology have tried to follow the horse and buggy. Retailers, distributors, brokers and other middlemen threatened by e-commerce are fighting against today's new economy.

To take a few examples, consumers who want to go online to customize a new car for purchase get a rude awake

ning: Due to car dealership lobbying, they're out of luck in all 50 states. In Maine, optometrists lobbied for a prohibition against releasing prescriptions to their patients, ensuring that consumers cannot reorder contact lenses online.

Thanks to the Internet, consumers are no longer limited in where they shop, when they shop or with whom they do business. Competition is driving down prices, encouraging efficiency and offering buyers and sellers more market choices.

Consumers should have legitimate protections in the new economy, enjoying as much safety from fraud, crime, unfair monopolies and threats to public health and safety in the online universe as they enjoy in the offline one.