The Narrative: TikTok Again; Data Localization Fail; Europe Finds Regulatory Nirvana; Digital Advertising Competition

China Hawks Revive Trump’s Tiktok Gambit FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is trying very hard to revive former President Donald Trump’s TikTok ban. Even as the House January 6 Committee explores the details of a real threat to national security created by the very man who appointed Carr to the FCC...

The Narrative, June 15: ICANN 74 inches forward, First-party sets upset

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...

The Narrative: Who shall we trust: Aadhar, Chinese money…or the State of Texas?

June 1, 2022 Trust in Aadhar deteriorates India’s long-running experiment with digital identity is still controversial. On May 27, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) issued a notification asking people to not share photocopies of their Aadhaar card as it could be “misused”. Yes, 13 years after Aadhaar was...

Would Forced Interop for Messaging be Pro-Competitive?

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...

The Narrative: The DMA and encryption; Telegram and “misinformation”

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...

The Narrative: Anti-Section 230 bill advances; ICANN’s judicial branch

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...

The Narrative: Meta-morphosis, data enclosure effects, 5G sanctions, global encryption day, Pegasus probe

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...