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Five ways to cripple tech (and the US economy)
The tech sector does great things for the US economy. For example, IT made up 75 percent of US productivity growth from 1995 to 2002, and 44 percent from 2000 to 2006. In 2011, IT workers earned 75...
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Facebook and competition for the marketplace of ideas
This week’s news that the curators of Facebook’s trending news section may have systematically discriminated against conservative views gives shape to inchoate concerns about the power of online...
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Amazon’s Jeff Bezos promises more spectacular failures
“If you think that’s a big failure, we’re working on much bigger failures right now,” Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos recently enthused to Marty Baron, executive editor of the Washington Post. Baron, who...
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Comcast, Charter, and the future of usage-based broadband pricing
With little fanfare, two big changes came to the world of fixed broadband pricing in the last month. First, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved Charter Communications’ merger with Time...
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Keep calm and let platforms carry on
Certain European officials seem to be suffering from a disorder called platform anxiety — the fear that arises because US firms are the leaders in creating business platforms. As is often the case,...
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12 things Mary Meeker wants you to know about the Internet, 2016 edition...
In a post published earlier this week, I distilled six important insights from Mary Meeker's “Internet Trends” slide deck. Today’s post offers six more nuggets of wisdom, this time focusing on trends...
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What happens when content providers and network operators merge?
In recent times, New Zealand has been the focus of international interest for its many ICT “firsts.” In the 1980s, it was the first country to experiment with communications markets ruled solely by...
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What the Comcast-Netflix deal says – and doesn’t say – about the Internet...
The investment advisory press is having a field day with the recently announced Comcast-Netflix deal. The deal, as the companies hope to eventually present it to consumers, will permit Comcast...
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Will sports decide the outcome of a major ISP/content provider merger?
Last month, the battle lines were drawn at the New Zealand Commerce Commission as opponents of the proposed merger between the country’s dominant pay television operator, Sky Television, and its...
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The AT&T/Time Warner review could depend on what happens next in New Zealand
On Monday, despite earthquakes, floods, and storms, staff of New Zealand’s Commerce Commission posted public submissions related to its recent letter of unresolved issues concerning the proposed merger...
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Let’s rethink market power in tech
Sometimes asking the right question makes all of the difference. In July of this year, my friends and former students at the National Communications Authority of Ghana asked me to speak on the...
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Sprint and Tidal: Expanding the planes of competition
The ink is not yet dry on Ajit Pai’s promotion to Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). But the market is already responding to an anticipated relaxation of the regulatory...
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Protecting consumers from the FTC: Three cheers for harm!
In the waning days of her time as head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), former Chairwoman Edith Ramirez initiated two problematic enforcement actions: a “pure” Section 5 Unfair Methods of...
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Why repealing Title II will benefit consumers and the economy
One of the excesses of the Obama administration was the tendency to create regulations that stopped good things from happening. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under the leadership of...
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Apple in Australia: Consecrating competition law or a case for cooperation?
Last month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) began legal proceedings against Apple for alleged breaches of Australian consumer protection law. Papers were filed just days after...
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Three fears that hamper tech progress
Would the world be a better place if the government required Taylor Swift to sometimes sing off key? Obviously not, but some of those calling for shackles on tech progress seem to think so. Why is...
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When you don’t have the FCC picking winners and losers, you have to compete
Right now, it is almost a national sport to hate the “mainstream media.” And with tone-deaf abandon, the mainstream media is just adding fuel to that fire. A few days ago, a group of billionaire...
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Tech is destroying jobs: And it’s a good thing, too
It seems increasingly common for politicians, journalists, and pundits to engage in hand-wringing over how tech is destroying jobs: President Barack Obama complained that bank ATMs and airport kiosks...
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America’s lopsided economy: Tech job edition
Congressional Democrats say they’re attacking “monopolies and the concentration of economic” power with their “Better Deal” policy agenda. But perhaps the more relevant issue is the increasing...
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Are tech firms too big to let live?
Is satisfying large numbers of customers a bad thing? It would seem so. Democrats in the US Senate take it as an article of faith that large companies are bad. Many pundits fret over the successes of...
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