Law unto themselves?

09/04/19 • 43 min

The pervasiveness of platforms in our societies is hard to ignore. It has wide ranging effects on and implications for our economic, social and cultural practices and lives. Some focus on the dominance of digital platforms as a failing of antitrust and call for an entire overhaul of the intellectual enterprise. Others go further. One of those is the guest on this episode, Professor Frank Pasquale of the University of Maryland, author of the widely acclaimed book, The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms that Control Money and Information.

For Frank, the societal concerns raised by platform dominance cannot be dealt with adequately as a matter of economic analysis. Rather, the culture, practices and effects of these companies raise fundamental questions about the type of society we want to live in. In light of this, it behoves us, he argues, to engage in a holistic philosophical inquiry, one that concerns our collective values and is not reduced to the methodological individualism of neoclassical economics. His call to action is a wholesale wresting back of control by the state.

This episode was recorded before a live audience at the Melbourne Law School on the occasion of Frank’s visit for the Digital Citizens Conference held 24-26 July.

You can read some of Frank’s writing here and his book, The Black Box Society, is available here. You can follow him on Twitter @FrankPasquale.

Featuring regular cut-through interviews with leading thinkers, movers and shakers, Competition Lore is a podcast series that engages us all in a debate about the transformative potential and risks of digitalised competition.

Join Caron Beaton-Wells, Professor in Competition Law at the University of Melbourne, to tackle what it means to participate as a competitor, consumer or citizen in a digital economy and society.

Competition Lore is produced by Written & Recorded

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was recorded before a live audience at the Melbourne Law School on the occasion of Frank’s visit for the Digital Citizens Conference held 24-26 July.

You can read some of Frank’s writing here and his book, The Black Box Society, is available here. You can follow him on Twitter @FrankPasquale.

Join Caron Beaton-Wells, Professor in Competition Law at the University of Melbourne, to tackle what it means to participate as a competitor, consumer or citizen in a digital economy and society.

Competition Lore is produced by Written & Recorded

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Previous Episode

Solutions from Stigler?

The George Stigler Centre at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has been undertaking a wide ranging study of digital platforms. One aspect of the study has a focus on market structures in digital platform markets and the antitrust implications. Other aspects explore privacy and data protection, media and the political system.

Each of these aspects of the study have been examined by a subcommittee which has produced a report with its key findings and recommendations, to facilitate further discussion and inform policymaking.

Our guest in this episode is Professor Fiona Scott-Morton from the Yale School of Management. Fiona chaired the subcommittee focussing on market structures and antitrust. We discuss the analysis in the report and Fiona shares her views on the antitrust reforms and regulation needed to tackle the challenges posed for competition in digital platform markets.

You can find the report here.

Featuring regular cut-through interviews with leading thinkers, movers and shakers, Competition Lore is a podcast series that engages us all in a debate about the transformative potential and risks of digitalised competition.

Join Caron Beaton-Wells, Professor in Competition Law at the University of Melbourne, to tackle what it means to participate as a competitor, consumer or citizen in a digital economy and society.

Competition Lore is produced by Written & Recorded

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next Episode

Downunder's Dive into Digital Platforms

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has completed its ground-breaking inquiry into digital platforms. What distinguishes this inquiry from many others is its broad holistic approach to competition, consumer, unfair trading, privacy and public interest issues. It has a focus on the media and advertising sectors but, if accepted, many of its 23 recommendations will have economy-wide effects.

In this episode you will hear from Morag Bond and Kate Reader, the joint general managers of the Inquiry team. We discuss the methods employed for information-gathering in the Inquiry, how hotly contested issues were dealt with and the thinking behind the key conclusions and proposals for reform.

You can find the website with all the documents relevant to the ACCC Digital Platforms Inquiry here. And if you would like to read my short article on ten key take outs from the Final Report, you can find that here.

Featuring regular cut-through interviews with leading thinkers, movers and shakers, Competition Loreis a podcast series that engages us all in a debate about the transformative potential and risks of digitalised competition.

JoinCaron Beaton-Wells, Professor in Competition Law at the University of Melbourne, to tackle what it means to participate as a competitor, consumer or citizen in a digital economy and society.

Competition Loreis produced by Written & Recorded

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.