dewme
The real problem I see with all of these “Big Tech” government probes is that we have governments going after private businesses as if these businesses are doing something illegal when the reality is that these businesses are legally operating exactly as businesses should operate for the benefit of their stakeholders. The real issue is that these governments and society were simply not prepared to deal with all of the consequences and far reaching effects that the technology and systems created by these businesses have had on society and the public interest, including competitiveness and consumer protection.
Instead of setting up probes and attempting to force fit the application of existing anti-competitive and monopolistic laws into cases where they do not clearly apply, governments should work with private businesses to define a new set of rules and laws that take into account the novelty of what these emerging technologies and systems represent and come up with equitable remedies. For example, we already have laws in place around things like intellectual property protection and patents. These laws are intended to spur innovation by providing creators and owners of IP and patents exclusive use and licensing rights to what they’ve created. These rights and rewards are balanced against the needs of society and public interest by putting time limits on the period of exclusivity.
When you look at things like Apple’s App Store there are somewhat similar forces at play compared to IP and invention but they are not exactly the same. The App Store is not an invention, but it still represents a massive business investment by Apple and Apple has exerted exclusively over how the system they created for themselves and their business partners operates. Obviously, some of Apple’s competitors and even partners do not see themselves as being solely business partners of Apple, but they still want to reap the many benefits of Apple’s creation without being subservient to Apple, especially on the financial side of things.
These competitors could create their own alternative to the App Store. But doing so is a massive undertaking and may not gain sufficient number of partners and customers to compete against Apple, especially when the App Store has become the de facto standard. These competitors and organizations like the government who are advocating for the public interest want a model in place to allow others besides Apple to benefit from the de facto standard. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there is no formal mechanism in place like there is for non patent holders, for example the makers of generic drugs, to benefit from someone else’s creation to enhance the public interest at some point in time.
With no system in place to time-limit or scope-limit the exclusivity of systems like the App Store or Google Search, lawmakers are instead trying to paint the creators of these highly successful systems as being, effectively, criminals. In my mind this is horribly wrong and is punishing business success and innovation. If the current incentives, controls, and laws around the exclusivity of inventions don’t adequately address these new types of systems like the App Store and Google Search, fix the laws. But these new laws must maintain incentives for creators and innovators to seek to create these types of systems that provide new benefits to both their creators, i.e., businesses, and society as a whole, including competitors and consumers.
Of course there will still be a need to balance just how much “reward” system creators can extract from their limited period/scope of exclusivity. But none of these things should provide incentive for businesses that fashion themselves as innovators, in name only, to sit back and lazily wait for someone else to solve their challenges for them so they can immediately reap the benefits without investing their own time and effort. The latter behavior is all too common today.
