Silicon Valley Makes Peace With Washington

[Commentary] It's time for Silicon Valley to rethink its relationship with Washington (DC) and Brussels.

After generations of technology entrepreneurs keeping their distance, high-tech companies over the past decade became among the biggest employers of lawyers, lobbyists and fixers. As in Detroit, reliance on big government by Silicon Valley undermines the focus on competition and innovation. There's a lesson here for Microsoft and Google—and for Facebook and Twitter as the likeliest next-generation targets of complaints by frustrated competitors. In high-tech, by the time the political and legal systems catch up to an issue, the issue is moot. Soon after the Justice Department considered forcing Microsoft to break itself into separate Windows and Internet Explorer businesses, Mozilla launched a popular competing browser. Apple and Google later did the same.