Blocking the middle man.

Bricks-and-mortar retailers are increasingly throwing up unnecessary barriers to consumer choice through e-commerce, and it's costing American buyers billions, according to the Progressive Policy Institute.

In a report released in January, the liberal Washington, D.C., think tank (www.ppionline.org) estimated that efforts by traditional retailers seeking to keep consumers from buying directly from manufacturers online costs shoppers at least $15 billion annually.

Progressive Policy Institute calls the problem "disintermediation" -- which in laymen's terms means that consumers' …