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November 7, 1997

E-Commerce News

Is Antitrust Policy Out of Date in the Digital Age?

[November 7] President Clinton's Internet guru Ira Magaziner said in Paris that antitrust policy should be rethought for the digital age because existing policies could be outdated.

"In the industrial age, the mere existence of a high market share was in itself evidence for antitrust action. In the digital age, we are not so sure if a high market share in itself is enough evidence to warrant action. Technologies and the market are moving so fast," Magaziner was quoted as saying by Reuters.

He declined to comment directly on U.S. anti-trust action against Microsoft. The Justice Department last month charged that Microsoft had violated a 1995 antitrust agreement by using its Windows "monopoly" to force computer makers to install its Internet Explorer Web browser as well.

"Ten years ago we looked into the dominant position of Wang in the office automation market, five years ago we looked at IBM, today we look at Microsoft," Magaziner said as an illustration of the speed at which technological changes alter the market positions of individual companies.

Magaziner was in Paris at an electronic commerce conference organized by the International Chamber of Commerce.

He said he had been urging European officials not to try and regulate the Internet and the emerging business of electronic commerce, but to leave it up to the market to develop standards.

"The notion of government protection through regulation, which served us well in the industrial age, might not be the right paradigm for the digital age," he said, adding that overregulation might actually stifle innovation.