Thursday, May 03, 2018

Facebook hired eHarmony's chief scientist for...God knows what

TechCrunch, here.
"But Facebook has confirmed to us that Carter is not working on the new dating service, and the company declined to say what he is doing."

IBM buys aggregation and analytics software provider Armanta

FinExtra, here

Data Analytics and The Death of The Modern Banking Industry

The Financial Brand, here

Inovação Tecnológica e Concorrência no Setor Financeiro em Portugal

Autoridade da Concorrência, aqui

Aadhaar doesn't pose any privacy issue: Bill Gates

The Times of India, here

Who should hold the keys to our data?

The Guardian, here

Durchsetzung nach Datenlage

FAZ, hier

Digital platforms inquiry submissions published

ACCC, here

Wednesday, May 02, 2018

Tim Cook’s company is a rock of common sense in an industry that’s gone rogue.

Bloomberg, here

Blockchain insiders tell us why we don't need blockchain

FT, here

Australia's Largest Bank Lost The Personal Financial Histories Of 12 Million Customers

BuzzFeedNews, here

ARE GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK UNDERMINING EUROPE'S PRIVACY RULES?

Wired, here

The Rise and Development of FinTech

R. Teigland et al., here

Taxi, ride-sourcing and ride-sharing services

OECD Secretariat, Background Note, here

Competition Policy and the Tech Industry – What’s at stake?

B. Hoffman, here

Facebook is taking on Tinder with new dating features

The Verge, here

2018 Global Payments Insight Survey: Retail Banking

Ovum, here

Tuesday, May 01, 2018

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Google’s Sergey Brin warns of the threat from AI in today’s ‘technology renaissance’

The Verge, here. See also FT, here.

Market Concentration

OECD, Issues Paper by the Secretariat, here.

Blockchain Technology and Competition Policy

OECD, Issues Paper by the Secretariat, here.

Repräsentatives Dateneigentum

K.-H. Fezer, hier.

Rethinking regulation

FT, here.

Digital Trade Restrictiveness Index

ECIPE, here.

FDA chief moves to promote artificial intelligence in health care

The Hill, here.

Europe fires back at ICANN's delusional plan to overhaul Whois for GDPR by next, er, year

The Register, here.

Privacy and Freedom of Expression In the Age of Arti cial Intelligence

Article 19, here.

Bitcoin frenzy settles down as big players muscle into market

Reuters, here.

What has the EU ever done for us?

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝Here.🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Thursday, April 26, 2018

EU Asks `Is the Net Essential?' The Answer Could Hurt Google

Bloomberg, here.

Or couldn't data be the infrastructure?

Dateneigentum: Ein trojanisches Pferd

NZZ, hier

Jürgen Klopp: "The EU is not perfect, but it's the best idea we've had so far.”

Here

Waze signs data-sharing deal with AI-based traffic management startup Waycare

TechCrunch, here

FTC Charges Lending Club with Deceiving Consumers

FTC, here.

"Defendant conducts a credit pull on applicants’ credit reports. Defendant then immediately rejects those consumers that it determines do not meet certain baseline criteria. Defendant refers to this step as “front-end” denial..."Although Defendant tells consumers that its loans contain “No hidden fees,” Defendant nevertheless charges consumers an up-front fee that is not clearly and conspicuously disclosed. This fee is calculated as a percentage—on average, approximately 5 percent—of the consumer’s requested loan amount, and often amounts to more than a thousand dollars...Defendant deducts the hidden up-front fee from the promised “Loan Amount” before disbursing the loan funds to the consumer. As a result, the amount of money that Defendant disburses to a consumer’s bank account is always substantially smaller than the promised “Loan Amount.” And because consumers must pay interest on the entire “Loan Amount,” including the fee, Defendant’s hidden fee leaves consumers paying interest on principal that they never received...Defendant has ignored these warnings. Rather than improving over time, Defendant’s violations have become more egregious over the years: when redesigning the application flow in the winter of 2014, Defendant increased the prominence of the “No hidden fees” representation and decreased the prominence of the tooltip...On desktops and mobile phones, after consumers agree to the loan terms and enter bank account information, they then click a “Done!” button and are taken to a screen that has stated, in large type: “Your [amount requested] loan is on the way. What’s next?” The amount that Defendant promises is “on the way” is the same “Loan Amount” that Defendant promised the consumer on the Loan Offer page. For example, a consumer who was promised a $10,000 loan amount will see on this screen a representation that “Your $10,000 loan is on the way...Although Defendant has told each consumer who completed a loan application that his or her “loan is on the way,” a consumer’s application in fact must undergo two additional processes after completion in order to receive final approval. First, an application must attract sufficient investor backing, and second, an application must pass Defendant’s stringent “back-end” credit review—so called to distinguish it from the lighter, “front-end” review that Defendant conducts while the consumer’s application is still in progress...If a consumer has garnered investor funding—but before Defendant has finished the “back-end” review of their applications—Defendant has sent such consumers various email messages communicating that the consumers will receive loans...In reality, however, many consumers who received such emails were subsequently rejected based on Defendant’s “back-end” credit review and never received a loan from Defendant. For example, of the at least approximately 196,000 consumers who received the above email, at least approximately 43,000 were subsequently rejected. The “back-end” credit review is searching and often involves, inter alia, an additional credit inquiry, a phone call to the consumer, requests for additional documentation, and detailed review of the consumer’s tax and bank records...Defendant’s default method of receiving consumers’ scheduled monthly payments is automatic electronic bank account withdrawal via ACH transfer. In numerous instances, Defendant has withdrawn money from consumers’ bank accounts without consumers’ authorization, or in amounts in excess of the amount consumers authorized Defendant to withdraw...As a result of Defendant’s unauthorized charges, many consumers are forced to pay overdraft fees, while other consumers are unable to pay other bills because they do not have access to the money that Defendant improperly withdrew...Defendant’s conduct is governed by the Privacy Rule prior to October 28, 2014, and by Reg. P after that date. The GLB Act authorizes both the CFPB and the Federal Trade Commission to enforce Reg. P. 15 U.S.C. § 6805...Defendant failed to comply with the requirements of the Privacy Rule and Reg. P. Specifically, Defendant failed to deliver the initial privacy notice so that each customer can reasonably be expected to receive actual notice. 16 C.F.R. § 313.9; 12 C.F.R. § 1016.9. For example, until at least the end of 2016, Defendant did not require customers to acknowledge receipt of the notice as a necessary step to obtaining a particular financial product or service. 16 C.F.R. § 313.9, and Reg. P, 12 C.F.R. § 1016.9. Instead, Defendant required customers to agree only to Defendant’s Terms of Use, which itself included only a link to Defendant’s privacy policy. In order to reach the privacy notice that Defendant was required to provide to customers, a customer would need to click on a link that did not indicate it was related to privacy, and then further find a link to Defendant’s privacy policy within the lengthy document to which the link led. Customers were not provided a clear and conspicuous privacy notice before they submitted nonpublic personal information to Defendant...Customers were only provided a link leading directly to the notice after they had applied for a personal loan. Defendant’s own compliance group had recommended repeatedly that the company require customer acknowledgment in the years prior to the 2016 change...Consumers have suffered and will continue to suffer substantial injury as a result of Defendant’s violations of the FTC Act and the Privacy Rule. In addition, Defendant has been unjustly enriched as a result of their unlawful acts or practices. Absent injunctive relief by this Court, Defendant is likely to continue to injure consumers, reap unjust enrichment, and harm the public interest."

Why did it take so long for the FTC to act? And what about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau re privacy issues? See FTC FinTech Series: Marketplace Lending June 9, 2016 Transcript, here.  See also here, June 9 2016 ("8 of 15 mention “No Hidden Fees”).

Competition and a fair deal for consumers online

M. Vestager, here.
Platform fairness is today's hot topic but the Commissioner doesn't mention it. She refers to it in an interview, though.

IMG and Leeds United owner's agency raided in EU sport cartel inquiry

The Guardian, here.

Sopnendu Mohanty: «Singapore Will Be an Oasis for Fintechs»

Finews.asia, here

Scams, Lies, And Revenge Porn: In the Facebook Fallout, Will The U.S. Get New Privacy Laws?

Forbes, here

Distributed Ledger Technology

FCA, here. See also here.

Observatory on the Online Platform Economy

EC Decision, here

EU moves to regulate tech giants' business practices

Reuters. here

Kann die Demokratie im 21. Jahrhundert bestehen?

F.W.-Steinmeier, hier

Online platforms: Commission takes legislative steps to ensure transparency and fairness for platform users

EC, here. FAQs here.
Regulation here.
Impact Assessment, here. Annexes, here.

Why does the Commission propose a Communication on online disinformation

EC, here

Pour une régulation européenne des plates-formes numériques

LesEchos.fr, ici

Facebook and the GDPR

J. Carr, here

Vestager zoekt meer grip op snelle techwereld

FD, hier.

Norwegian Air had ‘several inquiries’ since IAG stake revealed

FT, here

Digital banking startup Revolut raises $250M at a valuation of $1.7B

TechCrunch, here

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Delete Your Account: On the Theory of Platform Capitalism

LAReviewofbooks, here.

"We are seeing just the tip of the iceberg"

G. Buttarelli, here

Warum Daten unter die Kontrolle der Bürger gehören

E. Hafen, hier.

eBay To Offer PayPal Through July Of 2023

Pymnts, here.

Altaba, Formerly Known as Yahoo!, Charged With Failing to Disclose Massive Cybersecurity Breach; Agrees To Pay $35 Million

SEC, here.

Study in Support of the Evaluation of the Database Directive

EC, here.

Guidance on sharing private sector data in the European data economy

Commission Staff Working Paper, here.

Future of Identity and getting there

Mydex, here

Liability for emerging digital technologies

Commissiion Staff Working Paper, here.

Artificial Intelligence for Europe

EC, Communication, here

Data in the EU: Commission steps up efforts to increase availability and boost healthcare data sharing

EC, here

Proposal for a revised Directive on the reuse of Public Sector Information

EC, here. Impact Assessment and related documents here.

Artificial intelligence: Commission outlines a European approach to boost investment and set ethical guidelines

EC, here

Towards a common European data space

EC, Communication, here.

"Cordoba-Fall"

C-161/17, Schlussanträge des Generalanwalts Manuel Campos Sánchez-Bordona, hier

COMPETITION IS AT THE HEART OF FACEBOOK’S PRIVACY PROBLEM

D. Cicilline, T. McSweeny, here

Monday, April 23, 2018

EU Code of conduct on agricultural data sharing by contractual agreement

Here.  Remarks by EU Commissioner Hogan here

Commission opens in-depth investigation into Apple's proposed acquisition of Shazam

EC, here.

Mercedes setzt KI von Alibaba ein

FAZ, hier.

Facebook's hidden data haul troubles German cartel regulator

Reuters, here

Global fintech funding hits record $5.4bn in Q1

FinExtra, here

Who’s Benefiting? Revisiting the Innovation and Start-Up Ecosystem

Digital Platforms and Concentration, Panel, Video here

Art imitates life in the digital age

FT, here

Privacy and Personal Data Collection with Information Externalities

J. Choi, D.-S. Jeon, B.-C. Kim, here

Protecting competition, Reinforcing Consumer Protection, Rethinking Regulation

J. Tirole, Video here.

Some Memorable Quotes:
"Potential competition...if you don't know...the wise thing to do is not to let the merger operate"
"mfn...one of the cleverest strategies I've ever encountered, and people don't get it somehow"
"the important thing is, you can tax people who don't use you"
"I don't have a personal assistant, I don't want a personal assistant"
"What is the right fee for Booking?...I don't know"
"Defaults matter"
"We need the help the consumer...help me...self-regulation is going nowhere"
"Competition policy is slow, and often too late"
"Back and forth process" of regulation "you need to have guidelines and supervision"
"Participative antitrust" (droit de la concurrence participatif, this is the idea, my bet), "regulation reactive to ideas...proposed by the industry"
"You should make regulation agile...and listen to the industry"
"I'm not against breaking up those firms...my gut feeling right now is that it's difficult...harder that it used to be in the past because the technology is moving faster"

Brief discussion of Choi, Jeon, Kim Paper from 29:01

(tbd)

The Amazon Phenomenon

Stigler Center, Digital Platforms and Concentration, Panel, Video here

US vs EU: Antitrust, Data, and Privacy Policy

Stigler Center, Digital Platforms and Concentration, Panel, Video here

A Google Breakup Would Fit the EU's Logic

Bloomberg, here

Regulating Facebook merely nips at the edge of a bigger problem

FT, here

Australian regulator flags scrutiny of Uber Eats

Reuters, here

Law and Autonomous Systems Series: Blockchains and the Right to be Forgotten

M. Finck, here

Blockchain Is About to Revolutionize the Shipping Industry

Bloomberg, here

Property is theft (and allocatively inefficient too)

D. Coyle, here

Facebook parries ad market 'dominance' claims

AFR, here

Australia needs tougher penalties for banks, financial institutions, ACCC says

ABC.net.au, here

Werbekunden verpflichten sich zu mehr Daten-Transparenz

WuW, hier

The challenges for present and future competition enforcement

Danish Competition and Consumer Authority, here

Friday, April 20, 2018

Lagarde urges greater scrutiny of big tech companies

FT, here
Transcript of the CNBC's interview here:

"EISEN: ALL RIGHT. YOU’VE CERTAINLY BEEN WARNING ABOUT THAT. I KNOW YOU LOOK AT BANK REGULATIONS. WHAT ABOUT TECHNOLOGY REGULATIONS? DO YOU THINK WE’RE ABOUT TO SEE A WAVE OF INCREASED SCRUTINY— OBVIOUSLY WE’VE SEEN SCRUTINY, BUT REVELATIONS WHEN IT COMES TO TECH GLOBALLY AND REVELATIONS INTO THEIR COMPETITIVENESS, AND COMPANIES LIKE FACEBOOK, GOOGLE AND AMAZON.
LAGARDE: WELL, AS YOU SAID IN THE IMF, WE SUPPORT FREE MARKET. WE SUPPORT COMPETITION. WE SUPPORT IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY. WE SUPPORT INNOVATION. AND WE KNOW FOR A FACT THAT WHEN THERE IS TOO MUCH MARKET CONCENTRATION IN THE HANDS OF TOO FEW, WE’RE NOT SEEING COMPETITION, WE’RE NOT SEEING INNOVATION. AND OVER TIME WE ARE SEEING, YOU KNOW, GRADUAL --
EISEN: IS THAT WHEN FACEBOOK IS?
LAGARDE: IT DEPENDS HOW YOU DEFINE THE MARKET. IT DEPENDS WHO SUBSTITUTES. I MEAN, IT’S A VERY COMPLICATED DEBATE.
EISEN: YOU’RE NOT GOING TO CALL ANYONE OUT.
LAGARDE: BUT WE SHOULD ACTUALLY DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THERE IS THAT LEVEL OF ACCESS TO MARKET, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE ACCUMULATION OF THAT DATA IN THE HANDS OF A FEW IS NOT GOING TO BE SUCH A BARRIER THAT OTHER ENTREPRENEURS SIMPLY CANNOT ACCESS. SO THE SITUATION IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IT WAS IN THE TELECOM AGE OR IN THE GILDED AGE. WE NEED TO REALLY RE-THINK THE WAY IN WHICH THAT SITUATION IS ADDRESSED. COMPETITION IS ENCOURAGED AND IF THAT REQUIRES A NEW SET OF RULES TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE Intangibility OF THOSE ASSETS, IT NEEDS TO BE DONE. LOOK AT TAX, FOR INSTANCE. IT’S ONE IN WHICH ALL POLICYMAKERS AROUND THE WORLD NEED TO ACTUALLY LOOK AT: WHERE IS VALUE LOCATED? WHERE IS VALUE GENERATED? HOW SHOULD IT BE TAXED AND WHAT REVENUE SHOULD BE CONTRIBUTED BY THOSE PLAYERS?"

Information Technology and Industry Concentration

J. Bessen, here

Data as Destiny? Palantir Knows Everything About You

Bloomberg, here

Don’t Stop Believin’: Antitrust Enforcement in the Digital Era

M. Delrahim, here.

The Digital Heroes That Fought Against Government Surveillance Are Quiet About Facebook. They’re Missing Their Moment

Slate, here.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

DOJ Antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim: “American Antitrust Agencies Likely Have Made More Enforcement Mistakes Than Any of Their Foreign Counterparts”

Pro Market, here

EP’s Report on the Annual Report on Competition Policy

Here

Künstliche Intelligenz im Reality-Check

SAS, hier

Data experts on Facebook’s GDPR changes: Expect lawsuits

TechCrunch, here

Facebook to put 1.5bn users out of reach of new EU GDPR privacy law

"In Spirit"
Irish Times, here

Productivity and the Financial Sector – What’s Missing?

 C.D. Howe Institute, here

So ... you wanna talk about Facebook?

Make me smart, Interview with T. McSweeny, Audio here

Revolving doors at the EU commission's finance unit

EUObserver, here

Solutions to the Threats of Digital Monopolies

ProMarket, here

Data privacy, mergers key topics of discussion during ABA Antitrust Law spring meeting

ABA, here

5 questions sur l’action de la Quadrature du Net contre les géants du web

Numerama.com, ici

Uber exits Philippines despite antitrust review

AsiaNikkei, here

Apple Is Planning to Launch a News Subscription Service

Bloomberg Technology, here

High-Level Hearing: A European Union Strategy for Artificial Intelligence

Hearing, Video here

The European AI Landscape

EC, here.

Economía digital y competencia

A. Faya, aquì.

Net neutrality rules move past first hurdle in California

LATimes, here

The UAE Competition Committee is open for business

Hogan Lovells, here

Daten autonomer Autos sollten nicht gleich an den Hersteller gehen

SZ, hier

AT&T/Time Warner merger case

Interview with Brent Kendall, Audio here (from 05:30)

Monday, April 16, 2018

The Principle of Purpose Limitation in Data Protection Laws

M. von Grafenstein, here

Use our personal data for the common good

H. Shah, here.

The illiberal vision of neo-Brandeisian antitrust

G. Manne, here.

Behavioural Study on the Transparency of Online Platforms

EC, here.

Singapore’s competition watchdog sets interim measures for Grab-Uber merger

Channelnewsasia, here. CCCS’s press release here.

Why Europe, not Congress, will rein in big tech

Washington Post, here.

Reining in Big Data’s Robber Barons

NYBooks, here

Hackers stole a casino's high-roller database through a thermometer in the lobby fish tank

BusinessInsider.de, here

AI in the UK: ready, willing and able?

House of Lords, here.
CMA's written evidence here.
Interesting written evidence imho:
M. Lynch, here.
Article 19, here
CBI, here
Royal Academy of Engineering, here
The Alan Turing Institute, here
(tbd)


"O, there has been much throwing about of brains."

Saturday, April 14, 2018

The way global central banks work is about to fundamentally change — and technology is to blame

BusinessInsider, here.

Request for information regarding facial recognition on Facebook

WP29, here.

Cannibalisation effects, you said?

Picasso, La mujer que llora
#chillincompetitionfineart

Ernst Hafen: Our personal data should only be under our own control

CNN, here.

Facebook Uses Artificial Intelligence to Predict Your Future Actions for Advertisers, Says Confidential Document

The Intercept, here.

Why undertakers are worried

The Economist, here.

Is Tricking A Robot Hacking?

R. Calo, I. Evtimov, E. Fernandes, T. Kohno, D. O’Hair, here.

Privacy Under the Hood: Towards an International Data Privacy Framework for Autonomous Vehicles*

C. Colbert, here.

Remedies for Robots

M. Lemley, B. Casey, here.

Friday, April 13, 2018

Innovation in EU Merger Control

C. Esteva Mosso, here.

Google loses landmark 'right to be forgotten' case

The Guardian, here.

Death By a Thousand Papercuts: How Streaming Services Protect Themselves From Lawsuits by Burying the Copyright Office in Paperwork

Billboard, here.

No, end-to-end encryption does not prevent Facebook from accessing WhatsApp chats

G. Zanon, here

DIGITAL PLATFORMS AND CONCENTRATION

Stigler Center, 2018 Antitrust and Competition Conference, 19-20 April, here and livestreamed here.

The 2017 Conference has been great fun, highly recommended!

Starting at 3.30 pm TrentoTime.

La nueva economía

CNMC Blog, aquì

How CCI should look at M&A deals in digital economy

LiveMint, here

Should Privacy Law Regulate Technological Design? An Interview with Woodrow Hartzog

LinkedIn, here

Processing Personal Data on the Basis of Legitimate Interests under the GDPR

Future of Privacy Forum, here. 

LA DONNÉE COMME INFRASTRUCTURE ESSENTIELLE

Administrateur général des données, ici

What Makes Tech Platforms So Powerful?

L. Khan, here

UK advertising in a digital age

House of Lords, here

Irish High Court to send off Facebook & US surveillance case to CJEU

M. Schrems, here

Understanding the Economics of AI

A. Goldfarb, here

There is no AI ethics: The human origins of machine prejudice

J. Bryson, here

"Fuchsia ist kein Linux": Google dokumentiert Android-Nachfolger

Heise.de, hier

Neutrality, fairness or freedom? Principles for platform regulation

F. Bostoen, here

European Commission acts to ban unfair trade practices in the food supply chain

EC, here

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger: "Wow! Totale Informationskontrolle!"

Profil.at, hier

Henrik Kristoffersen v. The Norwegian Ski Federation

EFTA Court, Report of the Hearing here

Streit über "Persönlichkeitsstatus" von Robotern kocht hoch

Heise.de, hier.

‘We’ll get back to you’: six questions Mark Zuckerberg dodged

FT, here. See also the comprehensive list of questions-to-be-followed-up here

Was bringt die Datenschutz- Grundverordnung für automatisierte Entscheidungssysteme?

S. Dreyer, W. Schulz, hier

When science fiction inspires real technology

Technology Review, here

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

And @wavesblog antitrust writing award 2018 goes to...



Image result for oscar

(Hopefully, the bottle will be delivered at the next Ascola Conference - NYU 2018)

Rethinking competition in the Digital Economy

Cofece, here.

EU approves changes to Bayer commitments over Monsanto deal

Reuters, here.

Competition policy in a globalized and digitalized world. Challenges of today and tomorrow

Bundeskartellamt, Podiumsdiskussion, Video here

Wettbewerb, Verbraucher, Arbeitsplätze – wen oder was schützen Wettbewerbsbehörden?

Bundeskartellamt, Interview Video hier

GDPR's right of access

Babbage, here (from 00:48).

Ontwikkelingen digitale revolutie zowel kans als risico

ACM, hier

Kartellamt befragt Hotels zu Booking.com

AHGZ, hier

Deux députés relancent la possibilité de proposer des alternatives à Google dans les smartphones

Numerama.com, ici

The Lundbeck Case and the Concept of Potential Competition

S. Marco Colino, N. Dunne, K. Fournier, S. Pais, D. Ritzmann, here

Commission confirms unannounced inspections concerning distribution of sports media rights and other related rights

EC, here.
Murdoch's Fox, and who else? VodafoneZiggo is another investigated company.

2033: How Mark Zuckerberg Fixed Facebook

Politico.com, here

The Long Run: Maximizing Innovation Incentives Through Advocacy and Enforcement

M. Delrahim, here

Facebook's China Argument Revealed in Zuckerberg's Hearing Notes

Bloomberg, here

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Google appeals Indian antitrust watchdog's 'search bias' verdict: sources

Reuters, here. Ruling here.
See also this comment.

Artificial Intelligence, Economics, and Industrial Organization

H. Varian, here

Summary report of the consultation on the review of the directive on the re-use of public sector information

EC, here

Creation without consequence: How Silicon Valley made a hot mess of progress

J. Bryson, here

FROM METRO TO COTY: A STORY TO BE CONTINUED? THE CJEU'S JUDGMENT IN COTY GERMANY GMBH V PARFÜMERIE AKZENTE GMBH

Baker McKenzie, here

THE TAR LAZIO’S JUDGEMENT IN THE ITALIAN ASPEN CASE ON THE IMPOSITION OF UNFAIR PRICES UNDER ART. 102(A) TFEU

M. Angeli, here

EU Member States to cooperate on European strategy for Artificial Intelligence

EC, here. Declaration here

What 40 Years of Research Reveals About the Difference Between Disruptive and Radical Innovation

HBR, here

Paul-Olivier Dehaye and the Raiders of the Lost Data

Law.kuleuven.be, here

ALGORITHMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENTS: A PRACTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR PUBLIC AGENCY ACCOUNTABILITY

AI Now, here

Singapore: Competition watchdog to study online travel booking sector, data portability issues

Today Online, here

Amerika erlaubt größte deutsche Auslandsübernahme

FAZ, hier

Blockchain to enable medical data to be stored and transmitted safely and effectively

EC, here. here.

What Should Congress Ask Zuckerberg? Nothing.

NyTimes, here

A Member State is not required to extend a prohibition on the extradition of its own nationals to the United States to every EU citizen travelling in its territory

Judgment in Case C-191/16 Romano Pisciotti v Bundesrepublik Deutschland, here

The UberPop service does not constitute an information society service

Judgment in Case C-320/16, here

Monday, April 09, 2018

Uber seeks Dutch payments licence in drive to diversify

Sky News, here

Using Digital Platforms and Artificial Intelligence to Outpace Rivals

Oracle, here

Joint Submission to Treasury on the Open Banking Review Final Report

K. Kemp, D. Vaile, here

New ways to trade data

The Economist, here

Big Data aus wettbewerbs- und ordnungspolitischer Perspektive

J. Haucap, hier

Here Are All the Reasons It’s a Bad Idea to Let a Few Tech Companies Monopolize Our Data

M. Stucke, here

Software Interface Copyright

Harvard J of L&T, Special Issue, here

Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?

NYTimes, here

A German Approach to Antitrust for Digital Platforms

J. Haucap, here.

The Uber-Grab merger and the potentially anti-competitive consequences of the battle for ride-hailing dominance

CoRe Blog, here

On Uber Selling Southeast Asia Business to Grab

B. Edelman, here

eDistortions: How Data-opolies Are Dissipating the Internet’s Potential

A. Ezrachi, M. Stucke, here

Vertical restraints, digital marketplaces, and enforcement tools

J. Laitenberger, here

Apple Just Poached Google's AI Chief. Now Maybe Siri Will Get Smarter

Fortune, here

Synchronised swimming versus competition in banking

ACCC, here

FB drama hits open banking

InnovationAus, here

Technology & Competition law: A conversation with Stephen King

Audio here.

Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and the Regulator’s Dilemma: Clueless or Venal?

D. Vladeck, here

Rethinking Antitrust Tools for Multi-Sided Platforms

OECD, here

Tech Giants Breakup

N. Petit, Video here

Online platforms and abuse of dominance – the case of Funda Real Estate

D. Mandrescu, here

Trade Associations, Information Exchange, and Cartels

Spencer Weber Waller, here

Data Lords: The Real Story of Big Data, Facebook and the Future of News

TPM, here

Procedimento istruttorio nei confronti di Facebook Inc. per presunte pratiche commerciali scorrette

AGCM, qui.

Following Singapore, Philippines regulator forces Grab to delay closing Uber’s app

TechCrunch, here

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Does big data increase prices in China?

The Age of Artificial Intelligence

EPSC, here.

How Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Can Impact Market Design

P. Milgrom, S. Tadelis, here.

QUALCOMM / NXP SEMICONDUCTORS

Case M.8306, here.  

The Impact of Machine Learning on Economics (January 2018)

S. Athey, here

Food Data Driven Business Innovation

Opendata.ch, here

KBC app lets customers check accounts at other banks; Citi takes aggregation route

FinExtra, here

The Impact of the EU’s New Data Protection Regulation on AI

Center for Data Innovation, here

Governments must intervene to build trust in data use

FT, here.
But...the GDPR isn't about data ownership.

Computational Power and the Social Impact of Artificial Intelligence

T. Hwang, here

Monday, March 26, 2018

Künstliche Intelligenz: EU-Kommission plant umfassende europäische Initiative

Heise.de, hier.
Draft: Maximising the benefits of artificial intelligence, here.

Sprachen Baufirmen über Jahre ihre Preise ab?

20min.ch, hier.

The Innovation Theory of Harm: An Appraisal

V. Denicolo, M. Polo, here

Huawei wins IP injunction against Samsung in China

The Register, here

Durchleuchtet, analysiert & einsortiert? Wie Unternehmen Daten über unseren Alltag erfassen und gegen uns einsetzen

Kitchen Talks, Video hier (und der Wiener Akzent ein echter Genuss !).

This Is So Much Bigger Than Facebook

The Atlantic, here

Plataformas chilenas de criptomonedas llaman a la ABIF a tomar definiciones sobre la industria

Pulso.cl, aquì.

To comply with GDPR, Google asks publishers to manage user-data consent for ad targeting in EU

Search Engine Land, here

An Empirical Study of Affiliate Marketing Disclosures on YouTube and Pinterest

A. Mathur, A. Narayanan, M. Chetty, here

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Why have we given up our privacy to Facebook and other sites so willingly?

The Guardian, here.

The Facebook scandal isn’t just about privacy. Your economic future is on the line

The Guardian, here.

Brazil antitrust watchdog to investigate Brazilian banks on fintech complaint

Reuters, here.

'A grand illusion': seven days that shattered Facebook's facade

The Guardian, here.

ICN 2018 New Delhi - Wrap-up

CUTS Int., here.

How Google is eroding consumers’ freedom to choose

Beuc, here.

Robot Regulators. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Bloomberg, here.

Bundesdatenschutzbeauftragte bezweifelt Facebooks Datenschutzversprechen

Heise.de, hier.

Facebook largement en tête chez les agriculteurs

Terre-net.fr, ici.

Is Your Blockchain Business Doomed?

Bloomberg, here.

After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, advertisers rethink Facebook data

Digiday, here.

Horizontal mergers and innovation: why I agree with Tommaso Valletti

Chilling Competition, here.

-International Skating Union’s Eligibility rules

CASE AT.40208, here.

Should We Be Concerned About Data-Opolies?

M. Stucke, here.

TRASPORTO MERCI DA E PER LA SARDEGNA: SANZIONI DI 29 MLN DI EURO A MOBY E CIN PER ABUSO POSIZIONE DOMINANTE

AGCM, Qui.

Campaigners hit Cambridge Analytica where it hurts

FT, here.

Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica problems are nothing compared to what’s coming for all of online publishing

Doc Searls, here.

EU plans to pull ‘free’ digital services under consumer protection rules

Euractiv, here.

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Beware the Big Five

T. Shaw, here.

Meet the data war whistleblower

The Guardian, here.

“Facebook could see it was happening,” says Wylie. “Their security protocols were triggered because Kogan’s apps were pulling this enormous amount of data, but apparently Kogan told them it was for academic use. So they were like, ‘Fine’.”

The Video is also quite instructive, but, wait a minute, he doesn’t even trust HIS OWN  MUM ?!?

Saturday, March 17, 2018

50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

The Guardian, here.

The “New Madison” Approach to Antitrust and Intellectual Property Law

M. Delrahim, here.

ICN Vertical Mergers Survey Report

ICN, here.

Facebook has suspended Cambridge Analytica, the data analytics firm that helped Donald Trump get elected

Recode, here.

China to bar people with bad 'social credit' from planes, trains

Reuters, here.

Diritti TV per la Serie A: via libera a Mediapro, ma sia intermediario equo, trasparente e non discriminatorio

AGCM, qui.

Markttransparenzstelle für Kraftstoffe; Jahresbericht 2017

Bundeskartellamt, hier.

'Hipster antitrust' movement is all action, no plan

D. Balto, M. Lane, here.

MasterCard and IBM to set up European ‘data trust’

FT, here.
*warning*: more than avarage legal errors in the article, but the news is there

Probe urged into break-up of big four accountants

FT, here.

DOJ v. AT&T: Transcript of Discussion & Preview of Key Arguments at Trial

Capital Forum, here.

Robotergehirne brauchen Regeln

SZ, hier.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Google targeted under EU plan to regulate search engines

FT, here

FinTech: Commission takes action for a more competitive and innovative financial market

EC, here. FinTech Action Plan here

Horizontal Mergers and Innovation

B. Jullien and Y. Lefouili, here

BAD ACTORS ARE USING SOCIAL MEDIA EXACTLY AS DESIGNED

Wired, here

Warum die Politik künstliche Intelligenz regulieren will

Handelsblatt, hier

Liability of Online Service Providers for Copyrighted Content – Regulatory Action Needed?

J. Nordemann for the EP, here

How to Economize Consumer Protection

M. Baye, J. Wright, here

An Updated Antitrust Review of the Bayer-Monsanto Merger

M. Stucke, A. Grunes, here

FROM METRO TO COTY: A STORY TO BE CONTINUED? THE CJEU'S JUDGMENT IN COTY GERMANY GMBH V PARFÜMERIE AKZENTE GMBH

A. Cicala, K. Haegeman, R. Cuff, here

THE GOVERNANCE & REGULATION OF INFORMATION PLATFORMS

Symposium, Video here (6:15:48).