Should the Leading Online Tech Companies Be Regulated as Public Utilities?

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Peter Swire <peter () peterswire net>
> Date: August 2, 2017 at 11:34:27 AM EDT
> To: "dave () farber net" <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Should the Leading Online Tech Companies Be Regulated as Public Utilities?
>
> Dave:  For IP if you wish, an article on Lawfare today:
>
> https://lawfareblog.com/should-leading-online-tech-companies-be-regulated-public-utilities
>
> Peter
>
> =
>
> Should the Leading Online Tech Companies Be Regulated as Public Utilities?
>
> Should the leading online tech companies be regulated as public utilities?  Maybe so, according to White House 
> advisor Steve Bannon. His basic argument, according to The Intercept, “is that Facebook and Google have become 
> effectively a necessity in contemporary life.” Thus far, the tech sector and Washington think-tank crowd have not 
> grappled with that possibility in much depth, if at all. This post will provide a look at some reasons that leading 
> tech companies today resemble sectors traditionally subjected to public utility regulation, and then consider some 
> strong critiques of such a regulatory approach.
>
> Historically, utility regulation has been more prominent where we see: (1) high market share; (2) a service that is 
> vital for consumers; (3) a “natural monopoly”; and (4) barriers to exit by consumers.  For the first factor, one can 
> debate which market measurements to use, but Facebook and Google are unquestionably large. Both have billions of 
> users globally.  Google has about an 88 percent market share globally for search, and Facebook now reaches about 89 
> percent of U.S. Internet users. As to the second, online services are perhaps not quite as vital to daily life as 
> electricity, but Bannon is likely correct to say that services such as search, navigation, and social networks are 
> “effectively a necessity of modern life.<snip>
>
> There are also compelling arguments against the view that online services today deserve regulation as public 
> utilities.  <snip>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Prof. Peter Swire
> Huang Professor of Law and Ethics
> Scheller College of Business
> Georgia Institute of Technology
>
> Senior Counsel
> Alston & Bird LLP
>
> Ph: 240-994-4142
> Web: www.peterswire.net



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