I partially agree that regulations are slow or even atrocious. But, on the web, what true game-changing innovations were there in the last ten or so years? By and large, we're doing just the same things (poorly) on the web we used to in the 2000s. But "network effects" now place barriers to entry on a medium that once was supposed to be an easy means for self-publishing (for example, why don't more musicians put their songs on a paywalled web page for self-distribution? It's the kind of thing the web was made for, yet they have to go to endless pains with idiosyncratic and ever-changing web conventions, payment providers, SEO, and promotion on platforms to get a handful of clicks). What we're experiencing is a large consolidation end-game. In that situation, I think regulation is necessary, as "the web" can't get out of this without political will. I also disagree that the EU's ruling for IE had no impact; Firefox opened the door for browser diversity and merit. The same principles could be applied today to Android, to stop Google mandating bundling of their "services" and making Android phones cheap when the price to pay is privacy invasion and monopolism.

The marketplace being global might not very much longer be the case. For example, the EU court of justice has ruled (again) that personally-identifiable info just can't be transferred to the US under the "safe harbor" doctrine. And hasn't Google pulled out of China because they were required to give data to the government which however they weren't willing to on matters of principle?