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Woke up to hear people on the radio chatting about data monetisation & individual ownership rights as a path to online services that work better for consumers
Winter went fast, competition policy season is here again already
Winter went fast, competition policy season is here again already
"Independent report: John Penrose MP publishes proposals to strengthen UK’s competition regime" https://www.gov.uk/government/news/independent-report-john-penrose-mp-publishes-proposals-to-strengthen-uks-competition-regime
Obviously the Penrose review overlaps with the UK's Furman Review https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unlocking-digital-competition-report-of-the-digital-competition-expert-panel & ongoing gov and regulator work to implement those recommendations https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-advises-government-on-new-regulatory-regime-for-tech-giants
In general the report is lighter on technical economic expertise than the Furman review and more neoliberal/less interventionist. Kind of to be expected.
Data/tech bits that caught my eye...
Data/tech bits that caught my eye...
The planned Digital Markets Unit in CMA to be changed to a Network + Data Monopoly Unit (NDMU) with a reduced scope of regulating monopolistic companies rather than the sectors in which they operate
(Aside: a similar idea is in here https://revivingeconomicthinking.com/technology-and-innovation/ )
The report sees that some new monopolies are being built around data, although I think it overstates the importance of the data as compared to the human & non-human resources to make use of it & misses the push to use less data-intensive techniques
That plays into a range of data recommendations, including allowing access to key 'anonymised' datasets where privacy/data protection isn't an issue
Anyone think we should be brave and open up map data? ;)
Anyone think we should be brave and open up map data? ;)
The report falls into the same data portability for switching trap that many of us have
What we see in Open Banking/retail finance is that data portability on it own has supported emergence of complementary services, not substitutes
(examples in here: https://www.openbanking.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/open-banking-report-150719.pdf)
What we see in Open Banking/retail finance is that data portability on it own has supported emergence of complementary services, not substitutes
(examples in here: https://www.openbanking.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/open-banking-report-150719.pdf)
That's 'cos barriers to switching are not just data and include both human (eg motivation) and service-specific things
"I can switch bank account but now have to get a new bank account number? & wait for my card? & a new PIN? :0! I'll just stick with same bank..."
"I can switch bank account but now have to get a new bank account number? & wait for my card? & a new PIN? :0! I'll just stick with same bank..."
Interoperability could be better, but in some cases will still need either data or resource portability
eg the telecoms sector learnt that we needed to give consumers the ability to port a phone number from one provider to another & then tried to gradually make that easier
eg the telecoms sector learnt that we needed to give consumers the ability to port a phone number from one provider to another & then tried to gradually make that easier
Hence need combinations of interventions, perhaps trialling one, adding 2nd, removing 1st as turned out to be counter-productive &c &c
Designing, evaluating & managing those combinations needs some sector-specific expertise which probs take things back to existing regulators...
Designing, evaluating & managing those combinations needs some sector-specific expertise which probs take things back to existing regulators...
...as network + data monopolies are emerging in those existing sectors as well as the new ones
I imagine this is why the planned DMU is focussed only on the newish sectors, with other recommendations being about upskilling/uptooling existing regulators
I imagine this is why the planned DMU is focussed only on the newish sectors, with other recommendations being about upskilling/uptooling existing regulators
Elsewhere, there's an eye-catching recommendation about "improving transparency of price consumers are paying through their data for digital goods and services"
It certainly caught my ear when I heard R4 Today talk about it this morning using the lens of data ownership
It certainly caught my ear when I heard R4 Today talk about it this morning using the lens of data ownership
Obviously not all consumers are informed consumers & rational agents at all of the times in their ever-changing lives, so may not look at the price, but putting that aside
Can the price be made transparent?
Well, the report is scanty on what factors would play into that price
Can the price be made transparent?
Well, the report is scanty on what factors would play into that price
Would it be the economic value that Facebook creates per user?
Or per user in UK?
Or a specific price for a white middle-class Northerner who uses FB because lots of old friends are on there & who regularly clicks on adverts about comics & music but doesn't buy immediately?
Or per user in UK?
Or a specific price for a white middle-class Northerner who uses FB because lots of old friends are on there & who regularly clicks on adverts about comics & music but doesn't buy immediately?
Or would it factor in societal value?
"The price for your Facebook usage is £2pcm plus a weakened democracy as everyone blames everything on social media while missing other structural factors that hamper us getting a better democracy"
*clicks sign on*
"The price for your Facebook usage is £2pcm plus a weakened democracy as everyone blames everything on social media while missing other structural factors that hamper us getting a better democracy"
*clicks sign on*
Or lost value?
"The price for using Google Maps is £2pcm plus weaker service provision by small organisations that can't afford Google Maps and wish you'd contribute to the OpenStreetMap ecosystem instead"
"The price for using Google Maps is £2pcm plus weaker service provision by small organisations that can't afford Google Maps and wish you'd contribute to the OpenStreetMap ecosystem instead"
Would it factor in the price that other people pay to give me that service?
"The price for your Facebook usage is £1.50pcm plus poor health & safety conditions for moderators in Ireland as we need to keep the costs & liabilities down" https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/29/22256232/facebook-content-moderators-ireland-work-from-home-rights-coronavirus
"The price for your Facebook usage is £1.50pcm plus poor health & safety conditions for moderators in Ireland as we need to keep the costs & liabilities down" https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/29/22256232/facebook-content-moderators-ireland-work-from-home-rights-coronavirus
Or the price that other people pay because of decisions made about them due to data I share?
"The price for storing your photos is £2pcm plus use of photos of you & yr friends to train facial recognition algorithms that are used by yr corner shop & some authoritarian states"
"The price for storing your photos is £2pcm plus use of photos of you & yr friends to train facial recognition algorithms that are used by yr corner shop & some authoritarian states"
Hmm. This price and valuation of data stuff is *hard*. We value different things.
And the report doesn't go into the burden that making a data price transparent will place on smaller firms
Or the failure to be transparent about existing things, like data sharing agreements...
And the report doesn't go into the burden that making a data price transparent will place on smaller firms
Or the failure to be transparent about existing things, like data sharing agreements...
(Yes, believe it or not, I am skeptical of this eye catching suggestion :))
Anyway some light observations on data/tech bits
There's other bits of the report I agree with, but generally I think the UK govt - & think tank ecosystem around it - has written/commissioned lots of reports on competition policy recently
Time to crack on & try some stuff? :)
There's other bits of the report I agree with, but generally I think the UK govt - & think tank ecosystem around it - has written/commissioned lots of reports on competition policy recently
Time to crack on & try some stuff? :)
(ps no, AI and DCTs will not evolve so far that we don't need advice from expert humans who are different from the expert humans that develop DCTs using AIs but with different incentive structures around them)
