Advances in computers and data networks inspire visions of a future 'information economy' in which everyone will have (1)_____ to gigabytes of all kinds of information anywhere and anytime, (2)_____ information has always been a (3)_____ difficult commodity to deal with, and, in some ways, computers and high-speed networks make the problems of buying, (4)_____, and distributing information goods worse (5)_____ better. The evolution of the Internet itself (6)_____ serious problems. (7)_____ the Internet has been privatized, several companies are (8)_____ to provide the backbones that will carry traffic (9)_____ local networks, but (10)_____ business models for interconnection—who pays how much for each packet (11)_____, for example—have (12)_____ to be developed. (13)_____ interconnection standards are developed that make (14)_____ cheap and easy to transmit information across independent networks, competition will (15)_____. If technical or economic (16)_____ make interconnection difficult, (17)_____ transmitting data across multiple networks is expensive or too slow, the (18)_____ suppliers can offer a significant performance (19)_____; they may be able to use this edge to drive out competitors and (20)_____ the market.