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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>And of course we have <a href="http://gurstein.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/ooh-la-la-the-french-get-internet-neutrality-right-its-all-about-the-monopolies-google-amazon-facebook-twitter-etc/">platforms (corporate monopolists)</a> who use their wealth and power to tip the scales (of regulation/non-regulation) in their own favour.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>M<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> bestbits-request@lists.bestbits.net [mailto:bestbits-request@lists.bestbits.net] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Ian Peter<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, October 15, 2014 1:53 PM<br><b>To:</b> Ian Peter; governance@lists.igcaucus.org; bestbits@lists.bestbits.net<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [bestbits] [governance] Platform competition<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Just a bit more on this reading on -<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Wikipedia provides a good article and other examples of two-sided markets here<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-sided_market" title="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-sided_market">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-sided_market</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>which helps to clarify the issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Another quote<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#4C4E4D'>One takeaway from Tirole's work on regulation in general is that to a greater extent than people appreciate, policy problems sometimes exist because<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><i>the questions are genuinely difficult</i><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>rather than because policymakers are corrupt or feckless.</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>And it seems that one reason why the questions are genuinely difficult is that regulatory regimes were written in an era where such problems did not really exist.  We don’t have laws which are applicable. And often we don’t have legislators who understand the nature of the problems. (and, sure, we don’t have the will to introduce new laws or amend them either).</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Ian</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <a href="mailto:ian.peter@ianpeter.com" title="ian.peter@ianpeter.com">Ian Peter</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Sent:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> Thursday, October 16, 2014 7:01 AM<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>To:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <a href="mailto:governance@lists.igcaucus.org" title="governance@lists.igcaucus.org">governance@lists.igcaucus.org</a> ; <a href="mailto:bestbits@lists.bestbits.net" title="bestbits@lists.bestbits.net">bestbits@lists.bestbits.net</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Subject:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> [governance] Platform competition<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>This is a highly interesting article about the work of Nobel Prize winning economist Jean Tirole and how the concept of platform competition relates to internet markets. It explains how Google and Facebook can make enormous profits and dominate markets while offering their products free of charge. Similar issues exist in some other industries, but this article concentrates on Internet.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><a href="http://www.vox.com/2014/10/13/6968423/jean-tirole-platform-competition" title="http://www.vox.com/2014/10/13/6968423/jean-tirole-platform-competition">http://www.vox.com/2014/10/13/6968423/jean-tirole-platform-competition</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#4C4E4D;background:#F1F3F2'>To quote “And an important question for the world going forward is to how to think about regulating that kind of market. Since Google doesn't charge its mass customer base<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><i>anything at all</i>, you're never going to find evidence of monopoly power in price hikes.”</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#141823'>As Mark Rotenberg comments, “The key insight is not no regulation but different regulation. This is also why competition law and privacy law need to be updated not ignored.”</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><hr size=2 width="100%" align=center></span></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>____________________________________________________________<br>You received this message as a subscriber on the list:<br>     <a href="mailto:governance@lists.igcaucus.org">governance@lists.igcaucus.org</a><br>To be removed from the list, visit:<br>     <a href="http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing">http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing</a><br><br>For all other list information and functions, see:<br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