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Blog O’ Blogs October

By  |  October 31, 2019
The discussions surrounding the ‘Big Tech’ companies have gained a head of steam as CEOs, law-makers, academics, and pundits all pitch their own two cents to what could turn out to be a major turning point affecting wide swathes of the economy, law, and society as a whole – with antitrust concerns at its core. Articles this month have questioned the popular wisdom of bashing Big Tech, while yet others draw our eye to unexpected (or under-appreciated) risks. The use of data, and the reach and control over digital advertising, have also made the rounds this month, along with some reminders that non-digital competition concerns are also under the surface. Finally, a look around the world finds major changes springing across jurisdictions, from Brazil to Turkey to Kenya, as antitrust and competition continue to gain footholds across the globe.

The Snobbery of Bashing Big Tech
“As usual,” Lord Macaulay wrote in his history of England, “many persons” were “disposed to clamour against the innovation, simply because it was an innovation”…
Corbin K. Barthold (Truth on the Market)

Google’s DNS-Over-TLS Is Good Because Competition in Advertising Is Bad
AT&T and Comcast may be right that DNS-Over-TLS will give Google a competitive advantage, but that’s good for consumers, not bad… 
Ramsi Woodcock (What am I Missing?)

Legacy of Vestager’s First Term, Episode 4: Abuse of dominance
In a six-part blog series, we look back at the past five years of EU competition enforcement in order to look forward to the next…
Agathe Célarié, Mairi McMartin & Bella Spring (Linklaters)

How Autocracy Comes to America: Big Tech and National Security
Today I’m going to write about a very dangerous theme floating around in military and big tech circles, which is that big American tech monopolies are good for national security and should be weaponized and controlled explicitly by the American national security apparatus…
Matt Stoller (Big)

The Capper-Volstead Act Gives Farm Cooperatives a Limited Exemption from Antitrust Liability
The federal antitrust laws are a decisive proclamation that competition is the best policy—competition leads to better products and services, the greatest value at the lowest price…
Aaron Gott (The Antitrust Attorney)

Supreme Court Review Sought for Per Se Rule in Criminal Cases
A petition for review is before the Supreme Court filed by three California real estate investors who were convicted after trial under Section 1 of the Sherman Act for bid rigging at real estate foreclosure auctions…
Robert Connolly (Truth on the Market)

AI & Sustainable Procurement: The Public Sector Should First Learn What it Already Owns
While carrying out research on the impact of digital technologies for public procurement governance, I have realised that the deployment of artificial intelligence to promote sustainability through public procurement holds some promise…
Albert Sanchez-Graells (How to Crack a Nut)

Baseball and the Antitrust Laws Part I: The Origins of the Reserve Clause
This is the first of a series of articles intended to address some of the interesting intersections between the law and baseball, particularly baseball’s curious exemption from federal and state antitrust laws….
Luke Hasskamp (The Antitrust Attorney)

M&A Transactions and the New Brazilian Data Protection Law
M&A transactions involving entities processing personal data will be subjected to the new Brazilian General Data Protection Law when this legislation comes into force in August 2020. The LGPD will impact all those involved in the deal,..
Daniel Tardelli Pessoa (Oxford Law Blog)

Why Data Is Not the New Oil
“Data is the new oil,” said Jaron Lanier in a recent op-ed for The New York Times. Lanier’s use of this metaphor is only the latest instance of what has become the dumbest meme in tech policy…
Alec Stapp(Truth on the Market)

Kenya Competition Amendment Bill Introduces Onerous Buyer Power Provisions
There are several proposed amendments to the current Competition Act although the focus of the Amendments, most notably, relates to the introduction of buyer power provisions…
Ruth Mosoti (Africa Antitrust)

Comments on Android (II): follow-up questions on market definition
I felt I would not do full justice to the involvement of these readers if I just added a comment of mine to the pile. The insights are so powerful that it makes sense to give them more exposure…
Pablo Ibanez-Colomo(Chilling Competition)

Monopolization in the Name of Privacy: Google Is Slowly But Steadily Closing Its Advertising Ecosystem
As Big Tech’s leviathan wraps its tentacles around online markets, regulators at both the state and national levels are scrambling for solutions…
Hal Singer (ProMarket)

The Concept of Misleading Information and the Administrative Fines Under the Turkish Merger Control Regime
Mergers and acquisitions are effective tools for boosting innovation and commercial advancement. With the rising globalism in the circulation of goods and services, undertakings are forced to seek mutually beneficial collaborations…
Bora Ikiler, Armanc Canbeyli 
(Kluwer Competition)

The Concept of Misleading Information and the Administrative Fines Under the Turkish Merger Control Regime
Mergers and acquisitions are effective tools for boosting innovation and commercial advancement. With the rising globalism in the circulation of goods and services, undertakings are forced to seek mutually beneficial collaborations…
Bora Ikiler, Armanc Canbeyli 
(Kluwer Competition)