Tracking, privacy and platform competition Can a platform offer zero-price services that simultaneously preserve user privacy and business relationships across websites/applications? This is a puzzle the major platforms are trying to solve. There are legitimate concerns on all sides with users wanting subsidized services without creepy tracking, and businesses wanting...
As Congress passes legislation designed to onshore and re-nationalize the production of semiconductor-based integrated circuits, the hype of the industry backers of this plan proclaims that “The Future is Built on Semiconductors.” Is it, now? It would be more accurate to say that the “The Present is built on Semiconductors”...
October 17 – 18, 2022, The Hague Conference Center, The Hague, Netherlands IGP will hold its 7th Annual Conference in October. We invite scholars and practitioners in business and government to join us in a wide-ranging exploration of its theme: "From Internet Governance to Digital Political Economy." What scholars and...
After two weeks of drama, Elon Musk got Twitter’s management to accept his buyout offer. In a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion, Twitter will become a privately held company wholly owned by Mr. Musk. This is more than a business story. In a policy environment shaped by crusades calling for more...
For the past year, IGP research has been exploring the interaction of competition policy and cybersecurity/privacy concerns, particularly as it pertains to the large platforms. We have shown how privacy and security have become product differentiators in the digital economy. As large platforms such as Apple and Google compete by...
March 28, 2022 The EC Digital Markets Act’s Misguided Moves The European Union’s Digital Markets Act is repeating all the mistakes made by telecom regulators 30-40 years ago in their attempt to promote competition by mandating interconnection and interoperability. They have decided to require certain forms of technical compatibility with...
February 22, 2022 EARN IT Act moves forward The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a new version of the highly controversial Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (EARN IT Act). First introduced in March 2020, EARN IT Act pares back the immunity protections under Section 230 of...
November 15, 2021 U.S. Incident Reporting Mandate Moves to the NDAA - With a Notable Exception The Cyber Incident Reporting Act of 2021 is a Senate bill that attempts to centralize critical infrastructure incident data in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA). It is facing pushback from the private sector....
November 1, 2021 Facebook tries to change the subject After becoming the scapegoat of choice for all of society’s ills, from the “death of democracy” to teenage girls’ social comparisons to amplifying hate speech, Mark Zuckerberg announced a change to the company’s name and a shift in its focus. While...
September 16, 2021 App Stores’ Market Power Challenged Legal and regulatory actions are beginning to target the economic leverage of Apple’s and Google’s mobile app stores, but the cases make it clear that the conflict is primarily among competing suppliers rather than between the platforms and their users. The two...
“In characteristically rigorous fashion, Mueller’s outstanding book punctures the alarmist myth of Internet fragmentation and helps us to understand what is really at stake as nations and other groups vie for power over the Internet.”
