Keeping the Internet Free Might Get Very Expensive

Modern economics has little room for parasites. In the vast majority of models, there are only buyers and sellers -- there’s no one who just comes up and steals your money. In the real world, of course, there are parasites galore -- thieves, con artists, fraudsters, extortionists and more. In the long term, the amount of parasitism in any system should depend on the cost of policing -- if it’s easy for thieves to steal, there will be more theft.

On the internet, parasites are rampant. E-mail spam, identity theft and cyberespionage are some of best-known examples. And, of course, there was the Oct. 21 denial-of-service attack that made many prominent websites inaccessible. Every year, billions of dollars are spent on cleaning the system of these bloodsuckers. That spending might add to gross domestic product, but in economic terms it’s social waste -- in an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to use resources stopping parasites.