Marsha Blackburn: “in the early days of the internet, when we were all just beginning to get online and experience what it was like to have…”

“in the early days of the internet, when we were all just beginning to get online and experience what it was like to have at our fingertips an entree to the entire world--all of the information you could want--everything at that point really felt like a novelty. It had a newness about it. Technology was new, and consumers were able to take their time carving out a comfort zone for what they wanted to do online. They were signing up for Facebook, and they were trying to figure out which of their retail merchants they wanted to visit online, how they wanted to shop online, what transactions they wanted to begin to put into that search engine, and then conduct those transactions online. At the same time, technology firms were carving out their place in the market. I don't have to tell you that this dynamic has really changed from those early days and those first experiences with the virtual space. We walk around with computers in our pockets. That level of convenience and connectivity is great, but it has thrown off the balance of power between what is now called Big Tech and consumers. Over the past few years, these companies have treated the American people to a series of scandals that have opened the floodgates to mainstream concerns over issues like data privacy, child exploitation, a national security risk, and blatant, anti-competitive business practices.…”