internet platform regulation: platforms are not landlines
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Monolith idea of telecom regulation
● Of the “Lower Layer”○ Static hardware, not
a social creation● Regulation can assure
networks that are:● Affordable
○ Low costs● Reliable
○ Interoperable● Universal access
○ Innovations diffuse
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However, platforms are not landlines
1. Non-linear innovation (e.g Google)
2. Interconnectedness of innovation (e.g. App stores)
3. Financial, technical & social costs of regulation are neither trivial nor clear (e.g. Yahoo & China, uTorrent, spam)
4. By encouraging innovation, costs of obsolescence threaten ‘incumbent’ monopolies and oligopolies (e.g. PayPal, WhatsApp, Viber, Skype)
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Platforms need ecosystem thinking
Different businesses with different cost models
Asymmetrical power
Some innovations, but not all, require complementary advances
Regulating experimental advances
Anti-trust and IP law
Interdependencies
… none of which are accounted for easily by regulators
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