The European Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy is intended to break down the numerous barriers to cross-border online activity that currently exist in the European Union. The proposal covers a broad array of policies, including harmonizing EU rules for online purchases of goods, improving cross-border parcel delivery, integrating telecommunications regulation, and reducing burdens of different VAT regimes. While many of these proposals do not seem controversial – at least on this side of the Atlantic – some require closer scrutiny. For example, the strategy document includes a section on online platforms, reflecting the support of some officials for a general regulatory framework for “essential digital platforms.” In addition, the Commission is launching an inquiry in tandem with the Digital Single Market Strategy on the application of competition law in the e-commerce area.
Miscellaneous
In Google Case, do what’s Best for Consumers
Europe’s new top antitrust official, Margrethe Vestager, last week moved forward with a major antitrust suit against Google. At issue is the same “search bias” question that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigated for two years. The FTC, however, closed its investigation due to lack of evidence of an antitrust violation and any feasible remedy likely to benefit consumers. The European Commission disagrees and is accusing Google of abusing its dominant position in search by favoring its own products, particularly its online shopping service.
An Opportunity to Make Transparency the Norm at the FCC
On Feb. 26, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to regulate Internet service providers under Title II of the 1934 Telecommunications Act, but the public still isn’t allowed to see the text of the decision. Such secrecy has quickly led to a firestorm of conspiracy talk.
Delays in Release of FCC Orders Illustrate Transparency Issues
The Federal Communications Commission’s unique custom of voting on orders not yet released to the public, and granting “editorial privileges” after approval, raises obvious transparency concerns, explains Scott Wallsten in “Administrative Procedures, Bureaucracy, and Transparency: Why Does the FCC Vote on Secret Texts?” released today by the Technology Policy Institute. Moreover, an analysis of delays in publication in the federal register after the vote suggests that edits made after the approval of an order go beyond simple copy editing and are probably of a more substantive nature.
The FTC Report on the ‘Internet of Things’
The new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff report on the “Internet of Things” resembles previous commission privacy reports in being almost entirely bereft of new data or analysis. Commissioner Joshua Wright’s dissenting statement is the best summary: “the Workshop Report includes a lengthy discussion of industry best practices and recommendations for broad-based privacy legislation without analytical support to establish the likelihood that those practices and recommendations, if adopted, would improve consumer welfare.”
Will Title II reduce investment? Who’s asking?
The debate over whether and how to regulate broadband has been a vicious, no-holds-barred throwdown. It is expected to come to a head with a vote at the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) next month. Appropriately, much of the debate has focused on how broadband and its uses will develop under different regulatory approaches. One of the biggest disputes is how classifying broadband under Title II of the 1996 Telecommunications Act is likely to affect investment.