Lexpert magazine features articles and columns on developments in legal practice management, deals and lawsuits of interest in Canada, the law and business issues of interest to legal professionals and businesses that purchase legal services.
Issue link: https://digital.carswellmedia.com/i/1163340
36 LEXPERT MAGAZINE | Q3 2019 the United States. is leads me to a topic of growing im- portance in public policy circles: the role of data mobility in today's economic en- vironment. Remember earlier, when I talked about how customer switching can drive competition? Well, switching is less common when it is costly, complicated, and inconvenient for consumers. Additionally, switching can become less common when network effects tip markets to a small number of large providers with few, if any, competing options. Plus, there may be limited value for a user to switch if others aren't also switching. e current reality is consumers do not always have the ability to safely and effi- ciently share their data between service pro- viders, and service providers do not always have incentives to allow consumers to do so. is may serve to increase the cost and inconvenience of switching and render markets prone to network effects even less contestable for tomorrow's innovators. Increased "data portability" allows us- ers to take their personal data from one platform and securely and easily transfer it to another. And increased "interoperability" allows different platforms to interact with each other, with the user's consent. Both concepts work together to increase the user's ability to share personal data across platforms. From a competition perspective, there's a lot of interesting potential here to empower users and facilitate switching, which lies at the heart of competition. e easier it is for users to switch to ri- val companies, the greater the potential for competition. Canadians are concerned about their privacy. e ability to switch providers easily and safely could allow people to vote with their feet in the face of events such as pri- vacy breaches. is could enable competitive market forces to punish firms that don't take priva- cy seriously and reward firms that do. us, competition can complement other regula- tory approaches being considered. Some countries are considering rules that facilitate data mobility to help spur competition. Some firms are already working on this — for example, the Data Transfer Project that involves Google, Microso, Facebook and Twitter. In Canada, our banking sector is pursu- ing data mobility through the open bank- ing initiative, and this concept is being explored as the government is considering modernizing the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act or "PIPEDA." A recent data mobility study commis- sioned by the UK government estimates that economy-wide personal data mobility could increase the UK's GDP by at least 27.8 billion pounds or $47 billion through enhanced competition and productivity. And this does not take into account expect- ed dynamic gains from digital innovation. Data portability raises many complex issues — including around consents, third- party information, industry standards and who owns the user data that really matters for competition. ese issues warrant careful scrutiny and evidence-based debate. However, the potential of data mobility to empower consumers and ensure the vital role of market forces in the digital era makes it a discussion worth having. I recently discussed data mobility with someone working in the tech industry who told me that data mobility is nice in theory, but where are consumers going to take their data when there is no competition? Well, that's the whole point, isn't it? If we make it easier for consumers to take their data elsewhere, and for new firms to acquire this data to gain a foothold, we're enabling the conditions that drive competition. And that's at the core of the Competition Bureau's mandate — driving competition. When we examine our new rapidly chang- ing economic reality through a competition lens, it's clear we have work to do to keep pace, but there's so much opportunity that the rewards we reap for Canada and its con- sumers will be great. FEATURES COMPETITION to the Commissioner of Competition. is letter confirms the Bureau's vital role in promoting a marketplace where innova- tive business models, spurred by disruptive ideas and technologies, can flourish unim- peded by anti-competitive forces. And, it makes clear that we must en- sure that our competition infrastructure is able to remain responsive to a modern and changing economy. We must ensure that our marketplace frameworks are well suited to both the pres- ent and future marketplace. In other words, we need to be prepared to move at the same pace as technological change. In the digital economy, network effects can create conditions ripe for anti- competitive conduct, where small acts can have large consequences. So, what should competition policy look like in the digital era? Policy makers world- wide are pondering this very question. We've seen comprehensive, thoughtful and bold expert reports commissioned by the UK government and European Com- mission. We've also seen enforcement action in Europe that is driving much of the public discourse, including cases against Google and Facebook, and increased scrutiny in ANTHONY DUROCHER DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, MONOPOLISTIC PRACTICES, COMPETITION BUREAU "Much of the debate concerns the leading platforms' control over mas- sive amounts of data, and whether this control has entrenched their market dominance, rendering them virtually unassailable. Some argue that the tech giants operating these platforms serve as gatekeepers to the broader digital economy that allows them to exclude rivals and discriminate in favour of their own products and services."