<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/06/regulate-big-tech-we-need...> What changed over the weekend? Last week, the American public was generally unprepared for state-actor attacks on our cyber infrastructure. Indeed, many Americans were generally unaware that such threats exist, even though these threats could potentially be more destructive to the country than Sept. 11, 2001, or Pearl Harbor. Last week, U.S. social media — indeed, worldwide social media — remained open to manipulation by malign agents of disinformation. We are still defended by only the thinnest of lines at the Pentagon and within the law enforcement and intelligence communities. Last week, our tech titans were a largely unregulated group. If not exactly indifferent to the growing consensus that these members of “Big Tech” are achieving dangerous concentrations of power and wealth, then at best the companies moved at a snail’s pace to convince the public of their good and fair intentions and thus cut off ham-handed and outdated regulation. Then, on Monday, reports confirmed that the Federal Trade Commission, the Justice Department and the House Judiciary Committee were launching almost simultaneous offensives against everything represented by the term “FAANG” — Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google. (Disclosure: I own only Amazon stock, and The Post is owned by Amazon’s founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos. My views on this issue long predate either purchase.) Neither investors nor consumers should be amused. There isn’t any indication that any of the would-be regulators have the background to assess the new issues set or, crucially, even care much about the national security implications of either our collective defenses or lack of export controls on our technologies. No notice. No public discussion. Just a bum’s rush to regulate. Slow down. I’ve argued for a new regulatory regime for Big Tech for years: to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House GOP leaders, to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and national security adviser John Bolton, and to many others in both houses of Congress. About the only thing Hillary Clinton and I agreed on in our long on-air conversation following the publication of her campaign memoir was the need for everyone to read a different book (“World Without Mind,” by Franklin Foer) on the dangers of the new age of artificial intelligence. I don’t need to be convinced that there are risks as enormous as an unregulated Manhattan Project out there in the wilds of Big Tech. [...]