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Addressing the next wave of Internet regulation: Toward a workable principle for nondiscrimination
Author(s) -
Hahn Robert,
Litan Robert,
Singer Hal
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
regulation and governance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.417
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1748-5991
pISSN - 1748-5983
DOI - 10.1111/j.1748-5991.2010.01086.x
Subject(s) - harm , commission , internet service provider , the internet , service provider , business , situated , welfare , broadband , law and economics , public economics , internet privacy , service (business) , economics , law , marketing , political science , finance , computer science , artificial intelligence , world wide web
The ultimate formulation of the Federal Communications Commission's “nondiscrimination on the Internet” principle could have a significant impact on economic welfare and on innovation. In this article, we explain the economics of discrimination as it applies to the Internet, and we offer a new approach for identifying anticompetitive discrimination. Our proposal would require a complaining content provider to prove (i) the broadband service provider has discriminated in favor of some affiliated content provider that is “similarly situated” to the independent content provider; (ii) such disparate treatment is based on affiliation and not on some other consideration; (iii) the independent content provider has been unreasonably restrained in its ability to compete; and (iv) the harm it suffers as a result of the discrimination would likely redound to the harm of broadband users.