Digital Economy, Big Data and Competition Law

Digital Economy, Big Data and Competition Law
Author: Roberto Augusto Castellanos Pfeiffer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN:

Big data has a very important role in the digital economy, because firms have accurate tools to collect, store, analyse, treat, monetise and disseminate voluminous amounts of data. Companies have been improving their revenues with information about the behaviour, preferences, needs, expectations, desires and evaluations of their consumers. In this sense, data could be considered as a productive input. The article focuses on the current discussion regarding the possible use of competition law and policy to address privacy concerns related to big data companies. The most traditional and powerful tool to deal with privacy concerns is personal data protection law. Notwithstanding, the article examines whether competition law should play an important role in data-driven markets where privacy is a key factor. The article suggests a new approach to the following antitrust concepts in cases related to big data platforms: assessment of market power, merger notification thresholds, measurement of merger effects on consumer privacy, and investigation of abuse of dominant position.In this context, the article analyses decisions of competition agencies which reviewed mergers in big data-driven markets, such as Google/DoubleClick, Facebook/WhatsApp and Microsoft/LinkedIn. It also reviews investigations of alleged abuse of dominant position associated with big data, in particular the proceeding opened by the Bundeskartellamt against Facebook, in which the German antitrust authority prohibited the data processing policy imposed by Facebook on its users.

Competition Law for the Digital Economy

Competition Law for the Digital Economy
Author: Björn Lundqvist
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2019-12-27
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1788971833

The digital economy is gradually gaining traction through a variety of recent technological developments, including the introduction of the Internet of things, artificial intelligence and markets for data. This innovative book contains contributions from leading competition law scholars who map out and investigate the anti-competitive effects that are developing in the digital economy.

Competition, Data and Privacy in the Digital Economy

Competition, Data and Privacy in the Digital Economy
Author: Maria Wasastjerna
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2020-07-16
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9403522240

Increasingly, we conduct our lives online, and in doing so, we grant access to our personal information. The crucial feedstock of the world economy thus generated - the commercialization and exploitation of personal data and the intrusion of digital privacy it entails - has built an imposing edifice of market power. As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, this detailed exploration of the interlinkage between competition and data privacy takes a critical look at competition policy to evaluate whether the system in its current form and with the existing approach is capable of tackling the challenges raised by the role of personal data in the shift from an offline to an online economy. Challenging the commonplace assumption that privacy has little or no role and relevance in competition law, the author’s penetrating analysis accomplishes the following and more: provides an in-depth understanding of the intersection of competition and privacy in the data-driven economy; surveys legal policy developments on the role of privacy in competition law; underlines the importance of non-price parameters in competition, such as consumer choice; clearly explains why and how competition law can protect privacy among its policy objectives; and addresses challenges in measuring the intangible harm of digital privacy violation in assessing abuse of market power. Recent case law in Europe and elsewhere, a revealing comparison between relevant European Union (EU) and United States (US) practice, the expanded role of the EU’s Competition Commissioner, and the likely impact of such phenomena as the coronavirus pandemic are all drawn into the book’s remit. In her analysis of the growing privacy dimension in competition policy, the author examines the topic from a broad perspective that includes societal, political, economic, historical and cultural elements. Her insightful multidimensional and value-based review will prove of immeasurable value to practitioners, academics, policymakers and enforcers in its identification of implications for business practice as we go forward.

Big Data and Privacy in Merger Review - Competition Policy for the 21st Century Digital Economy

Big Data and Privacy in Merger Review - Competition Policy for the 21st Century Digital Economy
Author: Maria Wasastjerna
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2018
Genre:
ISBN:

Big data is the hot buzzword across industries and data is playing an increasingly important role in how businesses compete on the markets. In the digital economy, big data represents a core economic asset that can create significant competitive advantage for companies. Although the collection and analysis of data by companies is not limited to consumer data, many aspects of big data are targeted specifically at consumers, their preferences and behavior. This collection and use of personal information raises privacy issues. To keep pace with these developments, competition authorities have started to make data and its implications for competition law a key focus. Competition issues associated with big data are an emerging agenda for the regulators around the world. Last year, French and German competition authorities published a joint study examining the interplay between data and competition law. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued a paper in November 2016 on big data's implications for competition enforcement. The European Commission has also confirmed its interest in big data, in particular with regard to privacy issues and data as an asset. Most recently, the Commission's interest in data is reflected in the authority currently weighing possible changes to merger rules to better capture data-focused mergers.

Competition Law and Big Data

Competition Law and Big Data
Author: Beata Mäihäniemi
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2020-02-28
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1788974263

In this timely book, Beata Mäihäniemi analyses and evaluates how the characteristics of information as a good, as well as the characteristics of digital platforms, affect the application of competition law in both theory and practice.

Antitrust in Data Driven Markets & Legal Framework for Influencers, Native Advertising and Control over the Use of AI in Marketing

Antitrust in Data Driven Markets & Legal Framework for Influencers, Native Advertising and Control over the Use of AI in Marketing
Author: Bruce Kilpatrick
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 463
Release: 2022-12-07
Genre: Law
ISBN: 303107422X

This book gathers contributions from a broad range of jurisdictions, written by practitioners and academics alike, and offers an unparalleled comparative view of key issues in competition law, intellectual property and unfair competition law, with a specific focus on the use of personal data. The first part focuses on the role of competition law in shaping the digital economy. It discusses the use of personal data, the market power of platforms, the assessment of free services, and more broadly the responsibility of dominant companies in the smooth functioning of the digital economy. In turn, the second part sheds light on how the conduct of influencers, native advertising and the use of AI for marketing purposes can be controlled by the law, focusing on the use of personal data and the impact of behavioral advertising on consumers. In this regard, the book brings together the current legal responses across a number of European and other countries, all summarized and elaborated on in the form of two international reports. The LIDC is a long-standing international association that focuses on the interface between competition law and intellectual property law, including unfair competition issues.

Big Data and the Economics of Free

Big Data and the Economics of Free
Author: Christophe Carugati
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN:

Big Data and free goods such as Google search engine change the way of living of billions of users worldwide. Nowadays, the current competition law based on price-centric tools and static analysis without taking into account other fields of law like privacy is not adapted for the Big Data age which involved free goods, dynamic economy in multi-sided markets and privacy. There is an urgent need of a new competition law. That is the subject of this paper, to introduce a new competition law in the Big Data and the economics of free-or free goods- age in a practical way with a law and economics point of view for practitioners and competition authorities by using the latest papers and cases including the Google Shopping Case at the time of the thesis. I will start by defining new competition tools for free goods, identifying the relevant market, the market power and network effects and some economic tools related to privacy. Then, I will suggest a new analysis for Big Data and competition law enforcement by investigating abuse of dominance with new kinds of abusive conducts, collusive practices in the digital economy and the problem of algorithms and mergers with the necessary implication of privacy policy. Finally, I will address the link between competition law and consumer protection in the Big Data age of free goods by identifying the consumer welfare, the price discrimination and the remedies to protect consumers and market competition in the digital economy.

Big Data and Competition Law

Big Data and Competition Law
Author: Alptekin Koksal
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2023-11-13
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1000995844

Recent studies on competition law and digital markets reveal that accumulating personal information through data collection and acquisition methods benefits consumers considerably. Free of charge, fast and personalised services and products are offered to consumers online. Collected data is now an indispensable part of online businesses to the point that a new economy, a data-driven sector, has emerged. Many markets such as the social network, search engine, online advertising and e-commerce are regarded as data-driven markets in which the utilisation of Big Data is a requisite for the success of operations. However, the accumulation and use of data brings competition law concerns as they contribute to market power in the online world, resulting in a few technology giants gaining unprecedented market power due to the Big Data accumulation, indirect network effects and the creation of online ecosystems. As technology giants have billions of consumers worldwide, data-driven markets are truly global. In these data-driven markets, technology giants abuse their dominant positions, but existing competition law tools seem ineffective in addressing market power and assessing abusive behaviour related to Big Data. This book argues that a novel approach to the data-driven sector must be developed through the application of competition law rules to address this. It argues that current and potential conflicts can be mitigated by extending the competition law assessment beyond the current competition law tools to offer a modernised and unified approach to the Big Data–related competition issues. Promoting new legal tests for addressing the market power of technology giants and assessing abusive behaviour in data-driven markets, this book advocates for cooperation between competition and data protection authorities. It will be of interest to students, academics and practitioners with an interest in competition law and data protection.

Big Data and Competition Policy

Big Data and Competition Policy
Author: Maurice E. Stucke
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2016
Genre: LAW
ISBN: 9780191092190

The first text to provide understanding of the important new issue of Big Data and how it relates to competition laws and policy, both in the EU and US.