California earlier this year took a big first step to narrow the American-European tech regulatory divide with a comprehensive data privacy law. Tech companies operating in two of the largest markets in the world must now give their users some basic transparency and control over what data is collected about them and why. But data protection is more than just another compliance check-box. Data privacy rules are reshaping digital markets and informing the debate about competition policy in tech to address increased consumer demand for better protection of personal information.
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The browser wars: cookies at the intersection of privacy and competition
A growing demand for more privacy online has fueled a battle between the major web browsers. One of its casualties is the browser cookie, a 1990s innovation still widely used today to track users as they surf the internet. As web browsers phase out the use of tracking cookies, some internet businesses that depend on them to target users with ads will suffer, while browser operators and some online publishers stand to benefit. The browser wars and their impact on the use of cookies illustrate the increasing interplay between privacy and competition, and how antitrust laws might shape online markets in areas such as digital advertising.
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