Thursday, August 30, 2018

Is Silicon Valley home to this century’s robber barons?

N. Petit discusses with Jim Pethokoukis, Podcast here

Trump’s Ludicrous Attack on Big Tech

NYTimes, here

Big Data: is it bad for our health?

ABC, Podcast with F. Pasquale and J. Powles here

Der Digitalrat gibt Rätsel auf

FAZ, hier

TREB threatens legal action for realtors violating sales data rules

CP24, here

A Survey of Methods for Explaining Black Box Models

R. Guidotti et al. (sorry: too many Authors), here

Google VP of news: don't blame us for all the media's problems

ABC, here

Amazon-Whole Foods After One Year

Blog Symposium, here

Volkswagens Antwort auf Apple und Co.

FAZ, hier

SPD-Chefin Nahles will Tech-Riesen stärker regulieren und kooperative Plattformen fördern

Handelsblatt, hier

Can the taste of a cheese be protected by copyright?

Lexology,  here.
This Tomme is Art

Comisión Europea, Android y Google: ¿el bueno, el feo y el malo?

El Español, aquí

New US Legislation Would Hit Pause on Mega-Mergers

Competitivemarkets, here

Monday, August 27, 2018

Germany Takes Aim at Internet Giants

Bloomberg, here.
Jahresbericht 2017 hier

OECD on Blockchain Technology and Competition Policy

Videos: 12 and 3

Epic's first Fortnite Installer allowed hackers to download and install anything on your Android phone silently

Android Central, here

Google Korea faces antitrust probe for abusing game firms

The Korea Times, here

Dreist, dreister, Eventim

T3n.de, hier. S. auch
Bundeskartellamt untersagt Exklusivvereinbarungen zwischen CTS Eventim und Veranstaltern sowie Vorverkaufsstellen (04.12.2017), hier.

Statement of the EDPB on the data protection impacts of economic concentration

EDPB, here.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Central Banking

Bank of Canada, here

Competition, Stability, and Efficiency in Financial Markets

D. Corbae, R. Levine, here. Discussion here

How is Fintech changing the competitive structure of the financial service industry?

A. Schoar, here

How EU Markets Became More Competitive Than US Markets: A Study of Institutional Drift

G. Gutiérrez and T. Philippon, here

Understanding Weak Capital Investment: the Role of Market Concentration and Intangibles

N. Crouzet, J. Eberly, here. See also the Discussion here

Increasing Differences between firms: Market Power and the Macro-Economy

J. Van Reenen, here. See also here

Are Superstar Firms and Amazon Effects Reshaping the Economy?

NYTimes, here

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Google tracks your movements, like it or not

NYTimes, here.

Cade pode investigar Google sobre sistema operacional para celulares, diz Valor

Reuters, aqui.

Qualcomm settles $774m antitrust dispute in Taiwan

FT, here

Norwegian banks co-operate on account aggregation programme

FinExtra, here

Two Views of Exclusion: Why the European Union and the United States Diverged on Google

W. Kovacic, here

ABUS D’EXPLOITATION : QUELS SONT LES NOUVEAUX RISQUES POUR LES ENTREPRISES ?

Concurrences, ici

Online Dating: Modern Love

The Economist, here

Blockchains Are a Bad Idea

J. Mickens, Video here.

ACCC's probe into Facebook and Google critical in bringing issues to the forefront

Financial Review, here

Privacy as a Non-Price Competition Parameter: Theories of Harm in Mergers

S. Esayas, here

Apple v. Pepper, Amicus Curiae Verizon

Endgültiger gemeinsamer Leitfaden zur neuen Transaktionswert-Schwelle in der Zusammenschlusskontrolle in Österreich und Deutschland veröffentlicht

BWB, hier

UK Financial Services Customer Survey 2018

Accenture, here

"Wir nehmen ja auch keine Rücksicht auf das Geschäftsmodell eines Steuerhinterziehers"

SZ, hier

Changes in Third-Party Content on European News Websites aft er GDPR

Reuters Institute, here

Google's data collection is hard to escape, study claims

CNN Tech, here. Study here

Platform companies have to learn to share

FT, here

Making markets deliver essential medicines

M. Vestager, here

Wednesday, August 08, 2018

The Second Digital Disruption: Data, Algorithms & Authorship in the 21st Century

K. Raustiale, C. Springman, here

Innovation Drives Competition — And Consumer Choice

G. Shapiro, here

Apple Pay in Deutschland: Aktuelle Liste, 44 Banken äußern sich

iTopnews, here

GARTER REPORTS “EARLY MAINSTREAM” ADOPTION FOR 3D PRINTING SERVICES IN AFRICA

3dprintingindustry.com, here

Thailand's Draft Data Protection Bill: Many Strengths, Too Many Uncertainties

G. Greenleaf, A. Suriyawongkul, here

Make “Fairness by Design” Part of Machine Learning

A. Abbasi, J. Li, G. Clifford, H. Taylor, here

The Chinese Smartphone Upstarts Taking on Apple and Samsung

Bloomberg, here

23ANDME'S PHARMA DEALS HAVE BEEN THE PLAN ALL ALONG

Wired, here

Economic policy for artificial intelligence

A. Agrawal, J. Gans, A. Goldfarb, here

Platform Antitrust

E. Hovenkamp, here

Monday, August 06, 2018

Facebook taps banks, but for chatbots not purchase data

TechCrunch, here

Google reveals Android P is named Pie, begins rollout to Pixel phones

VB, here and here

Why Apple Pay Is the Highest-Rated Mobile P2P Payment Service

Consumer Reports, here

Facebook to Banks: Give Us Your Data, We’ll Give You Our Users

WSJ, here

How Excessive Pharmaceutical Patenting is Extending Monopolies and Driving up Drug Prices

i-mak, here.

Dynamische Preisdifferenzierung

Verbraucherzentrale, hier.

Taxi and Uber Drivers Are United in Backing a Cap on Ride-Hail Vehicles

NYTimes, here

Tech Policy: State Attorneys General Pose Antitrust and Privacy Enforcement Risk to Google and Facebook; Could Initiate Android Case Like They Did US v. Microsoft

Capitol Forum, here

SAMR Policy: China Launches First Antitrust Probe into Digital Platforms, SAMR Official Says

Capital Forum, here

Grab wants to go way beyond ride-hailing in Asia, co-founder Hooi Ling Tan says

Recode, here

Fortnite Android ne sera pas sur le Google Play

Numérama, ici

Hard Questions: How Should Facebook and Other Companies Protect Privacy While Letting People Share Their Information Between Apps and Services?

FB Newsroom, here

Ausgerechnet mit ApplePay & GooglePay könnten deutsche Banken wieder Relevanz im DigitalPayment erhalten!

Paymentandbanking.com, hier

Blockchains: Regulating the Unknown

M. Finck, here

Er hat das Telefon neu erfunden

FAZ, hier

All you need to know about the Srikrishna panel’s draft data protection law

Scroll.in, here

Understanding Google's Search Platform and the Implications for Antitrust Analyses

J. Yun, here

Regulating Big Tech?

R. Epstein, here

German Appellate Court Rules on ICANN Request to Preserve WHOIS Data

ICANN, here

Thursday, August 02, 2018

Google Maps Says ‘the East Cut’ Is a Real Place. Locals Aren’t So Sure

NYTimes, here

ACM start marktstudie appstores voor mobiele telefoons

ACM, hier

Lessons for Australia in the EU’s algorithmic price war that ripped off consumers

R. Nicholls, here

RGPD : une extension ajoute un refus global sur les sites utilisant le module Quantcast Choice

Next Impact, ici

Who has been advising Carrefour on its strategic cooperation with Google?

Clifford Chance, here

Parity clauses of Booking.com now banned in Sweden for the benefit of consumers and hoteliers

TravelDailyNews, here. See also here.

Google’s Secret China Project Sparks Anger Among Workers

Bloomberg, here

Blockchain innovation in Europe

European Union Blockchain Observatory and Forum, here

The New Pythagoreans

C. Gilliard, H. Culik, here

UK appoints former Obama adviser to lead tech review

FT, here

What are data-opolies and should we be worried about them?

Competition Lore, Podcast here

When is a business a platform?

Competition Lore, Podcast here.


POWER AND PURPOSE: PROTECTING A COMPETITIVE POSITION AFTER ACCC V PFIZER (II)

Corrs.com.au, here

Audit the algorithms that are ruling our lives

FT, here

Remedies for Robots

M. Lemley, B. Casey, here

20 ways Democrats could crack down on Big Tech

Axios, here. Paper here.

Power Buster: EU Competition Commissioner MARGRETHE VESTAGER on populism and optimism

Anger Management with Nick Clegg, here (on the data economy: at 30:00).

Managing Competition on a Two-Sided Platform

P. Belleflamme, M. Peitz, here

Intellectual Property and Antitrust Review: Europe

T. Vinje, here

Fairness and Enforcement: Bridging Competition, Data Protection and Consumer Law

I. Graef, D. Clifford, P. Valcke, here

Global Online Piracy Study

J. Poort, J. Quintais, M. van der Ende, A. Yagafarova, M. Hageraats, here

Rod Sims in conversation with Caron Beaton-Wells

Competition Lore, here

Opinion: "Are You A Bot?" Is The New "Are You A Cop?"

R. Calo, M. Lamo, here

How to define and regulate “data of general interest”?

B. Pailhès, here

Economic models of data: A complex relation between supply and demand

P. Belleflamme, here

Merger policy in the age of Facebook

A. Prat, T. Valletti, here. The. Paper is here

ECJ annuls Nestlé’s KitKat bar shape trademark

FT, here

The upside of making personal data portable

Mydex, here

Décision Android : comment les smartphones ont pris le pouvoir et comment le leur reprendre

Le Monde, ici

Market review into the supply of card-acquiring services

PSR, here

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Policy Failure: The Role of “Economics” in AT&T-Time Warner and American Express

M. Steinbaum, J. Biese, here.

GOOGLE-CHEF PICHAI IM GESPRÄCH : „Eine Entscheidung gegen unser Geschäftsmodell“

FAZ, hier.
Es gibt eine Entscheidung und wir werden uns danach richten. Wir werden bedächtig unsere Optionen prüfen und konstruktiv mit der EU-Kommission darüber sprechen.“”

Applications mobiles : mises en demeure pour absence de consentement au traitement de données de géolocalisation à des fins de ciblage publicitaire

CNIL, ici.

Will the European Commission’s Google Android Decision Benefit Consumers?

P. Akmar, here.

Europe has fined Google $5 billion. But that won't hurt it

Cnn Tech, here.

Making Data Portability Work

Mydex, here.

Quelques réflexions sur la décision Android du 18 juillet 2018

F. Marty, ici.

He Has Tweeted HT @aoifewhite101

Go to Twitter...

Algorithms As Cartel Infringements – A Bibliography

P. Pohlmann & D. Schütte, here. ❤️

Mozilla Responds to European Commission’s Google Android Decision

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The EU fining Google over Android is too little, too late, say experts

The Guardian, here.

Microsoft-GitHub Deal Poses New ‘Data Eavesdropping’ Questions

Bloomberg, here and here

EC’s Android Suit: the Stupidest Antitrust Suit of All Time?

Tech Freedom, here.

Google Shrugs Off EU Fine; Damage to Hinge on Rivals' Next Moves

Bloomberg, here.

Europe is right to stand up to Google’s power

FT, here.

Oversight of the FTC

Energy and Commerce Committee, here.

FTC Chair Says Commission ‘Very Interested’ in EU's Google Fine

Bloomberg, here.

The Android decision is out: the exciting legal stuff beneath the noise

Chilling Competition, here.

The EU’s Google Android antitrust decision falls prey to the nirvana fallacy

G. Manne, here.

Android: Error 404 “Theory Not Found”

Baker McKenzie, here.

Android has created more choice, not less

Google, here.

Why the Commission’s Google Android decision harms competition and stifles innovation

D. Auer, here.

Commission fines Google €4.34 billion for illegal practices regarding Android mobile devices to strengthen dominance of Google's search engine

EC, Press Release, here. See also Commissioner Vestager’s Statement here.

EU Competition Commissioner Vestager: Press Conference on the Android Decision

Video here.

Monday, July 16, 2018

DoubleClick in sights of ACCC for abusing market position

The Australian, here

Winners & Losers in the Digital Age: Kara Swisher on data privacy, data deals and mobile addiction

Video here

RISE OF THE API COPYRIGHT DEAD?: AN UPDATED EPITAPH FOR COPYRIGHT PROTECTION OF NETWORK AND FUNCTIONAL FEATURES OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE

P. Menell, here

Google should give away a free Home smart speaker to every US household, Morgan Stanley suggests

CNBC, here

OHIO V. AMERICAN EXPRESS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

J. Newman, here

Why Android is Google’s Trojan horse.

T. Vinje, here

Rapprochements à l'achat dans le secteur de la grande distribution à dominante alimentaire: L'Autorité de la concurrence renforce ses investigations et ouvre des enquêtes

Autorité de la concurrence, ici

EU consumer rules: The European Commission and EU consumer authorities push Airbnb to comply

EC, here. 

Vestager’s misguided Google crusade

Politico.eu, here

Regulatory Challenges in Digital Markets: Trust Online

BCCP 2018 Conference, videos here

Competition issues in the Area of Financial Technology (FinTech)

EP, Study requested by the ECON committee, here

Por qué es una mala noticia que las empresas rivales compartan accionistas

J. Azar, M. Schmalz, I. Tecu, aquì

Saturday, July 07, 2018

Friday, July 06, 2018

Cade arquiva investigação no mercado de aplicativo de transporte individual de passageiros

Cade, aqui

Building the UK financial sector’s operational resilience

Bank of England, FCA, here

HOW AI IS DISRUPTING THE BANKING INDUSTRY

International Banker, here.

Brazil moves forward with online data protection efforts

ZDNet, here

PSD2 fully 'privacy proof'

EDPB, Letter here

Excessive Pricing And Sham Patent Litigation: The Pfizer And AbbVie Decisions

IP-Watch, here

Self-driving cars are headed toward an AI roadblock

The Verge, here

Smartphones: The Dark Side

BBC, Panorama, here

ICANN't get no respect: Europe throws Whois privacy plan in the trash

The Register, here

Thursday, July 05, 2018

Supreme Court decision on credit cards undermines competition, celebrates price increases, and will contribute to economic inequality

M. Kades, here.

The Internet: to regulate or not to regulate? Written and Oral Evidence

UK Parliament, here.

Aka Online Platforms: to regulate or not to regulate?

EU-KOMMISSION : Neue Diskussion über Google-Zerschlagung

FAZ, hier.

Kartellrechtliche Ausnahmeregelungen

Monopolkommission, hier.

PREZZI FARMACI ANTITUMORALI RIDOTTI FINO ALL’80%: OTTEMPERANZA DI ASPEN

AGCM, here

Is Facebook a publisher? In public it says no, but in court it says yes

The Guardian, here

CMA demands pricing action from energy company

Press Release, here

EC consults stakeholders on draft guidelines to help national courts estimate the economic harm caused by cartels

Press Release, here.
Draft Guidelines for national courts on how to estimate the share of overcharge which was passed on to the indirect purchaser here

BEIS - Modernising Consumer Markets: Green Paper; CCP's Consultation Response

CCP, UEA, here.
Bruce Lyons, here

Singapore regulator says Uber-Grab merger may have been unlawful

FT, here

Grab/Uber merger: CCCS Provisionally Finds that the Merger Has Substantially Lessened Competition, Proposes Directions to Restore Market Contestability and to Impose Financial Penalties

CCCS, here.
PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON POSSIBLE REMEDIES TO ADDRESS POTENTIAL COMPETITION CONCERNS ARISING FROM GRAB/UBER MERGER here.

ANTITRUST IMPLICATIONS OF LABOR PLATFORMS

M. Steinbaum, Podcast here (while you're lying on the beach, you know).

Facebook fan pages and EU data protection law

L. Woods, here

Claudette meets GDPR

Study Report, Funded by The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), here.
See also TechCrunch, here.


When copyright goes wrong

R. Corrigan, here

Formal comments of the EDPS on a Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on copyright in the Digital Single Market

EDPS, here

Wednesday, July 04, 2018

Publication des statistiques agrégées sur le fonctionnement des algorithmes de recommandation, classement ou référencement de contenu

 Assemblée Nationale, ici.

Design et Attention : perspectives critiques

InternetActu, ici.

Control, Alt or Delete? The future of consumer data

Which?, here.

Consumer data in online markets

Oxera for Which?, here.

Modernising consumer markets: Consumer Green Paper

UK Gov, here (IMI: I missed it 😊).

Forscher: Android-Apps schicken Screenshots und Videos an Drittfirmen

Heise.de, hier

Government welcomes Lords AI report, vaunts industrial strategy

ComputerWeekly, here

Monopolkommission verteidigt Versandapotheken

FAZ, hier

Ohio v. Amex, Supply Chain Fairness, and the Inadequacy of Antitrust’s Consumer Welfare Standard

R. Woodcock, here

Facebook confirms that it’s acquiring Bloomsbury AI

TechCrunch, here

Data Ownership, Regulation, and Blockchain Dominate Platform Markets

G. Parker, M. Van Alstyne, P. Evans, here

COMPETITION WITHOUT COMPETITORS? A RESEARCH AGENDA FOR BIG TECH

N. Petit, Presentation here

Algorithms, Machine Learning, and Collusion

U. Schwalbe, here

Global Market Power

J. De Loecker, J. Eeckhout, here

Legal row between retailers and card processors faces fresh delay

FT, here

Tuesday, July 03, 2018

The Supreme Court just quietly gutted antitrust law

L. Khan, here.

Android Fine May Come in Mid-July as EU Dances Around Trump Trip

Bloomberg, here.

The Regulatory Compass: Towards a purpose-driven approach to financial regulation’

The Finance Innovation Lab, here.

UBS testet digitale Assistenten in der Vermögensverwaltung

FAZ, hier.

FCA welcomes firms working on crypto-assets to latest sandbox cohort

FinExtra, here

Report on the impact of Fintech on incumbent credit institutions' business models

EBA, here

Report on prudential risks and opportunities arising for institutions from FinTech

EBA, here

AT&T promised lower prices after Time Warner merger—it’s raising them instead

ArsTechnica, here.

Statement of FTC Chairman Joe Simons Regarding Federal Court Ruling in FTC v. AbbVie

FTC, here.
Ruling here.

Amazon Ran an die Pille

SZ, hier.

IPG Confirms $2.3 Billion Deal to Acquire Data Marketing Company Acxiom

AdWeek, here.

Stand und Entwicklung der Unternehmenskonzentration in Deutschland

Monopolkommission, hier.

Algorithmen und Kollusion

Monopolkommission, hier.

Big Business Keeps Winning at the Supreme Court

The Atlantic, here

Facebook Faces Broadened Federal Investigations Over Data and Privacy

NYTimes, here

The Paradox of Technological Déjà Vu

Digitopoly, here

La idea de misión

M. Mazzucato, aquì.

ÉCONOMIE AUGMENTÉE. NOUVELLES PERSPECTIVES.

Autorit de la concurrence, ici. 

Tech for TechLawyers: The Hardware

N. Brown, Video here

Jack Ma Embraces Blockchain for Ant But Warns of Bitcoin Bubble

Bloomberg, here

Festrede Andreas Mundt zur 53. Theodor Heuss Preisverleihung

Hier. 

Platforms and personal data processing : the potential for achieving systemic transparency

P.-O. Dehaye, I. Hahn, G. Jargalsaikhan, here.  J
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The state of the Internet in France

Arcep, here

Políticas de competencia para una economía digital: el marco regulatorio e institucional y el contexto internacional

G. Núñez, J. De Furquim, M. Pereira, here

A Nobel-winning economist’s guide to taming tech monopolies

Quartz, here

CMA launches enforcement action against hotel booking sites

CMA, here

Data in the payments industry

PSR, Discussion paper, here

How the Disney-Fox Deal Got DOJ’s Greenlight Quicker Than Expected

Variety, here

With Amex Ruling, Modern IO Theory Makes Important Inroads with SCOTUS

R. Picker, here

The future of banking is open

PWC, ODI, here

Big tech companies are looking at Hollywood as the next stage in their play for the cloud

TechCrunch, here

The seven-year legal fight between Apple and Samsung over smartphone patents has ended with a whimper

NYTimes, here

"Open Banking is a revolution for the whole industry"

J. Basini, here

The Effect of Institutional Ownership Types On Innovation and Competition

P. Borochin, J. Yang, R. Zhang, here

Your Phone Is Listening—Literally Listening—to Your TV

K. Waddell, here

The internet: to regulate or not to regulate?

UK Parliament, Witnesses here

When the Econometrician Shrugged: Identifying and Plugging Gaps in the Consumer Welfare Standard

K. Caves, H. Singer, here

The 17 years since the Microsoft antitrust case taught us that regulation can spur innovation

Quartz, here

The German cement cartel – a landmark decision for private damages actions

CoRe Blog, here

Wettbewerbshüter warnen vor automatisierten Preisabsprachen

WiWo, hier

Facebook offers fresh detail about its ties to dozens of outside companies in more than 700 pages of new data turned over to Congress

Washington Post, here

Artificial Intelligence and the 'Good Society': The US, EU, and UK Approach

C. Cath et al., here

The State of Artificial Intelligence in 2018: A Good Old Fashioned Report

N. Benaich, I. Hogarth, here

Young generation tempted by Amazon bank-like services

Computerweekly, here

Government response to House of Lords Artificial Intelligence Select Committee’s Report on AI in the UK: Ready, Willing and Able?

UK Gov, here

Gütekriterien für algorithmische Prozesse

N. Rohde, hier

Companies under strain from GDPR requests

FT, here

How regulators can prevent excessive concentration online

The Economist, here and here.

Can Technology Be Stopped?

BBC Radio 4, Podcast here

Oracle to locate European fintech hub in Brussels

FinExtra, here

Before “After Consumer Welfare” -- A Response To Professor Wu

D. Melamed, N. Petit, here

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Line to launch cryptocurrency exchange in Singapore

FT, here

The first "known" financial technology

Morgan Museum, NYC


(Small) Variations on a Theme: This blog's author Lund Presentation on "FinTech, TechFin, Competitive Markets: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?", here

Friday, June 22, 2018

FinTech,TechFin, Competitive Markets: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

S. Vezzoso (this blog’s author), presentation here. Please email me if you have any comment.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Opinion of the European Banking Authority on the implementation of the RTS on SCA and CSC

EBA, here.
"In the event that the ASPSP does not have a system that enables it to adequately respond to the confirmation request sent by the provider initiating the payment, then the ASPSP should give PISPs the possibility of accessing the necessary data themselves, so as to allow them to make their own judgements on the sufficient availability of funds."

"Given that PSD2 does not limit the types of payment transactions a PISP is allowed to offer, and given the provisions in Articles 4(15) and 66(1) of PSD2 in particular, the EBA would like to clarify that a PISP has the right to initiate the same transactions that the ASPSP offers to its own PSUs, such as instant payments, batch payments, international payments, recurring transactions, payments set by national schemes and future-dated payments."

“ TECHNOPOLY” and what to do about it: Reform, Redress and Regulation

ResPublica, here

The regulatory mistakes that let Facebook and Google buy ad dominance

Axios, here

Super Platforms, Big Data, and the Competition Law: The Japanese Approach in Contrast with the US and the EU

T. Takigawa, here

Lessons from the Recent Commission’s Decision on Google. To Favour Oneself or Not, That is the Question

B. Mäihäniemi, here

Virtual Competition

N. Colombo, here

The Sound and Fury of Patent Activity

R. Feldman, M. Lemley, here

Amazon—An Infrastructure Service and Its Challenge to Current Antitrust Law

L. Khan, here (pp. 99 ff.), here

Digital Dominance

Edited by Martin Moore and Damian Tambini, here

‘Direct’ and ‘indirect’ effects of enforcement

DotEcon for CMA, here

No Fair Hearing for the DoJ in the AT&T-Time Warner Decision

C. Sagers, here

Data Nationalization in the Shadow of Social Credit Systems

F. Pasquale, here

Report on Competition Policy 2017

EC, here

Projet conjoint sur les algorithmes et leurs enjeux pour l'application du droit de la concurrence

Autorité de la concurrence, Bundeskartellamt, ici

Supreme Court to review Apple app store commissions case

FT, here

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Salesforce deepens data sharing partnership with Google

TechCrunch, here

Diana Moss and Joshua Wright discuss AT&T-Time Warner Merger

C-SPAN, Video here

THE COURT’S DECISION TO LET AT&T AND TIME WARNER MERGE IS RIDICULOUSLY BAD

TheVerge, here

Economics and Antitrust

ABA Antitrust, Spring 2018, here

A community-driven project has proposed a model privacy bill for India that puts citizens first

Scroll.in, here

The Blockchain: A Data Structure With a Weird Cult Attached

D. Gerard, here

D’Enron aux fintech en passant par les subprimes : peut-on sanctionner ex post les abus de marché ?

F. Marty, ici

French media plan to meet with government over Google-GDPR concerns

Digiday, here

Fintech's Adyen Shows the Long Path to Unseat Giants of Finance

Bloomberg, here

Shutting down ePrivacy: lobby bandwagon targets Council

Corporate Europe, here

How Judge Leon blew it with U.S. v AT&T

The Washington Post, here

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Preview of the upcoming discussions at ASCOLA 2018 NYC

Here.

And forget the distinction between the main track and the parallel sessions: great topics everywhere!

(mine included, of course 😊. I hope I’ll do it justice.  First draft of my paper coming soon. Abstract:
‘The use of technology to support the production and delivery of financial services has a long history, spanning from the written records of financial transactions in Mesopotamia, to much more recent developments, such as the first use in 1995 of the World Wide Web to provide online account checking, and the introduction of high‐frequency trading. In the last ten years, however, the adoption of digital technology in the financial sector, generally known as FinTech, has undergone a dramatic acceleration, both in the West and the East. In the latter, arguably, the magnitude of the transformative powers at work is most visible. Ant Financial Services Group, a spin‐out of e‐commerce platform Alibaba, lately achieved a market value of around €127 billion ($150 billion) based on the success of its digital payments system Alipay and money market fund Yu'e Bao. Tencent's popular instant‐messaging app WeChat incorporates an online payment service, WeChat Pay, which is used by a substantial proportion of its one billion monthly users. A strong trend towards mobile payments is also experienced in other countries, such as India. Ongoing transformations in the financial sector are significant and global, which creates opportunities and challenges for consumers, traditional and non‐traditional financial service providers, and regulators alike. Incumbent banks have expressed concerns about the disruptive potential and the dangers of Big Tech, which the Paper calls TechFin adopting the definition of Alibaba's CEO, Jack Ma. While banks brace themselves for potentially unsettling market developments, financial regulators discuss the impact of new technologies on processes and business models, as well as the need for a changed supervisory methodology. The challenge for most financial regulators is to ensure that the multiple benefits offered by these new technologies are realized without hampering consumer protection and compromising the stability of the financial system. The Paper embraces a different perspective and explores some of the likely consequences of FinTech in terms of market structure and competition. Keeping the literature strands on platforms in the background, we analyse the current push towards the “platformization” of banking services. If the financial sector moves towards production and distribution models where the banks see their pivotal role diminished, this is certainly of concern to financial regulators, who should at the very least adapt their supervisory methodologies to the new situation. From a competition policy perspective, however, it is important to identify the types of market structure that could better satisfy consumers' banking and financial needs. The Paper makes the point that the analysis of the possible impact of the FinTech revolution on competition dynamics in the financial sector is particularly relevant especially to make sure that the benefits of innovation are harnessed for the good of consumers. This perspective is solidly ingrained in the “long term” view of competition policy.’)