Let it be so for public companies.  The very definition of the word "utility" is a denotation of USEFULNESS. Public companies ARE utilities unto the entrepreneurs who so choose to publicize them, for they do so out of the usefulness it is in having out-of-the-loop shareholders invest with purchases of stocks. While the sheep buy stocks, those in the loop -- the founders of the company and those others at the top of the pyramid invested in the company's direction and vision -- will have all the KNOWLEDGE of the true nature of the company's systemic machinations, whereas the sheep are left in the dark waiting on their investments to turn profit. The only common value between the directors of a public company and its sheepish investors is the desire for maximization of profits. As such, the inherent bureaucracy indigenous to the culture of a public company will be UTILIZED to ensure that the MUTUAL value between director and mere minority shareholder is upholded to the extreme. This means such measures as the shareholders being kept in the dark as to what laws, legal or natural, are being violated by the directors of the public company at any given time.  This means violating the rights of the customer base in the name of profit, including FRAMING the end user as being in violation of the company's EULA, which is subject to change at any time much like the kid at school who made up the rules to the game as it was being played along. It's just like the power company turning out your lights or the water company cutting off your water.  Public companies CAN and WILL maneuver themselves into the position of being a utility on which we the sheep are dependent. They always have, and always will seek to do so. IT IS THE NATURE OF THE BEAST. PUBLIC COMPANIES ARE UTILITIES.