FTC’s Majoras Spotlights Arguments against Broadband Duopoly, Net Neutrality
SAN JOSE, Cal. -- FTC Chmn. Deborah Majoras noted that at a Feb. FTC workshop on broadband, some speakers said existing and emerging wireless technologies offer vigorous competition to DSL and cable modem access, and that some bias among kinds of network data traffic not only isn’t bad but helps consumers and competition. The FTC will report of workshop findings, she said Mon. night at the Tech Policy Summit here, but didn’t say when or whether it would lean in the directions she noted.
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The workshop took up advertised broadband download speeds and raised questions about what they mean to consumers and how they can test the promises, Majoras also noted. “I don’t know yet” where the FTC will go with the matter, she said. In Nov. a “series of town hall meetings” on privacy, security and related technology matters will let the FTC “talk to the market” and “find out where we need to be,” after the Nov. Tech-ade conference, Majoras said. A workshop will examine changes in spam and best responses, she said. The FTC will spell out every Jan. its plan for privacy, security and technology research for the year, she said.
The FTC and the EC are working to harmonize enforcement against monopolistic practices, Majoras said, in response to a question about tougher treatment of Microsoft by European than U.S. authorities. “I hope there’s an opportunity for greater alignment in the future,” she said: “This is the area where you'll find the great divergence,” rather than on merger policy, where “we really haven’t had a major divergence since 2001.” But “there may be some growing pains along the way” to more uniform practices internationally, Majoras acknowledged, citing variations in economic development.
Cal.’s pioneering breach-notice law is “a good thing” because it raises security awareness, Majoras said, but there should be “a national, consistent standard.” And consumers should get breach notices only when there’s significant risk to them, so security information doesn’t get lost in “noise,” as with Gramm-Leach-Bliley privacy notices from financial institutions, Majoras said.
The FTC has found broadly that tried & true regulatory doctrines can keep pace with the Internet and other fast- changing technologies, Majoras said, contesting the commonplace that the law is doomed to lag behind. Conventional antitrust analysis “is highly fact-intensive” and “as economic thinking evolves, so too does antitrust enforcement,” she said: “Only the landscape changes, and we have to have a keen awareness of that.” The changes can be convulsive, she acknowledged. She cited the “phenomenal” rise of the iPod and music downloading, which means that suddenly even “iconic” retailers like Tower Records “reign no more.”
Consumer protection is no different, Majoras said: “The same principles applied in an offline world in the industrial age apply to the online world in the Internet age.” She characterized the Sony BMG rootkit case as a straightforward application of the principle that a firm’s failure to disclose material terms to consumers’ detriment can constitute illegal deception.
The FTC has endorsed a patent-law revamp, Majoras said in passing, and “I hope some progress can be made this Congress.”