Economists study impact of regulation on wireless innovation
Three economists Everett Ehrlich, Jeffrey A. Eisenach, and Wayne A. Leighton have written a paper on “The Impact of Regulation on Innovation and Choice in Wireless Communications”. The paper examines the state of wireless competition in the U.S. relative to the world and the effect of regulations sought out by Skype and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
One of the first things that popped out was the state of wireless competition in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world. It highlights the fact that the United States along with the United Kingdom have two of the most competitive wireless markets in the world. Only 4 nations have 5 competitors and the U.S. is the only one where the fifth competitor has a double digit market share.
Wireless competition in the world
The rest of the paper looked at the Skype FCC petition to apply open access rules on Wireless networks and the Electronic Frontier Foundation petition to the copyright office which sought the right to “jailbreak” phones like the iPhone and Google G1. Not only does Skype and the EFF want regulations on the wireless network, they want rules on the entire ecosystem from the network to the phones to the applications. The EFF apparently has a big problem with Apple protecting their business model and 30% commissions on the Apple App store. While reading this paper, I began to wonder what was next. Should modifications to Xbox, PlayStation, and Wii be legalized too so that software companies can deploy applications without paying royalty and users can be free to run pirated copies of games?
I won’t reveal any more spoilers than I already have, but the paper is a solid piece of analysis that I would highly recommend reading for yourselves.
[...] news by Technorati Search for: free software « “Executive Briefing” on SMART Classroom [...]
That was presumably before Verizon bought Alltel. So much for that accolade.
Yep. You buy it, you own it, you should be able to do anything you want to it. Solder an extra chip on there, install something that isn’t sanctioned, the whole nine yards.
If the console manufacturers don’t want people to do that then they should stop selling and start leasing consoles.
If that’s a consequence of allowing people to do whatever they want to devices they own, then so be it. VCRs have been allowing people to violate copyrights for decades and the world didn’t end. To the contrary, the companies who feared them the most ended up being the ones that benefited from them the most.
Pirating a game is already against the law anyway. If there’s a problem to be solved, it’s having toothless laws that nobody really wants to spend money to enforce.
[...] [...]
[...] Wireless networks are far more competitive than wired networks, and more competitive than mobile networks in other nations. [...]
Leave your response!
Twitter Feed
About Us
Digital Society is a digital think tank that believes culture and commerce are inseparable, that the digital economy flourishes when people are free and rights are secure, and that free markets free people.
Digital Society is an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization, funded by donations from Jon Henke and from Arts+Labs. We advocate for a pro-culture, pro-commerce digital society through research, analysis and debate on emerging technology issues.
Reply Comments
Transparency and interactivity are trademarks of the Internet era, and we aim to foster them here at Digital Society. It is inevitable that some people will disagree with the technology policy positions we take. We want to have that constructive debate.
The Reply Comments feature gives our critics a chance to respond to our viewpoints and the Digital Society audience convenient access to competing arguments. Any time we directly challenge the views of an individual or a group on this site, the party in question may substantively respond in a guest post.
Please contact executive director Jon Henke by e-mail.
Subscribe
Daily Digest Email
Recent Posts
Recent Posts
Most Commented
Most Viewed