The internet is the railroad of our times — an essential piece of public infrastructure over which much of the world’s commerce and communication is now conducted. Yet the companies that dominate it are private, profit-seeking entities. And like the rail companies of old, they pose a monopoly problem.

It’s a point that’s worth careful consideration given the warnings in recent days about the power wielded by big technology companies from all over, including the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, and the US Department of Justice’s antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, who referenced early railroad competition violations in a speech last week on the challenges posed by digital “gatekeepers”. The DoJ and the Federal Trade Commission have recently divided up responsibility for investigating tech companies including Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple.

But I think the real action is in the US House of Representatives judiciary committee, which has announced its own investigation into whether antitrust rules need to evolve to meet the challenge of reining in Big Tech. Over the next 18 months or so, they’ll be holding hearings and, according to insiders, may be interviewing and deposing a variety of high-profile tech leaders as well as competitors who say they’ve been squashed by these companies.