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Technology

If Brendan Carr is reconfirmed to the FCC, how will consumers fare?

CCC Managing Director, Fred Roder (left), FCC’s Brendan Carr (middle), CCC Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski (right)

On Monday, President Joe Biden re-nominated Brendan Carr to the Federal Communications Commission. For consumer advocates like us at the Consumer Choice Center who work on many issues related to tech innovation and the protection of our rights online, that’s welcome news.

Now, the US Senate must confirm Carr’s nomination. It would be a welcome opportunity to continue efforts and opportunities to both support and defend consumer choice.

Throughout his tenure at the chief telecom regulator, Carr has chiseled out his space as a principled voice and worthy fighter for many consumers issues.

His dedication to the expansion of rural broadband access, smart investment in telecom and Internet infrastructure, and common-sense rules to help facilitate American ingenuity and entrepreneurship stand out as some major achievements.

Whether it was the repeal of Title II classification for Internet Service Providers (net neutrality), the protection of free speech, or his desire to address the influence of the Chinese Communist Party through TikTok and other platforms, Carr has never missed an opportunity to an evidenced-based approach vital to policymaking.

We hope to continue working with Commissioner Carr in his new tenure despite some disagreements on the nuances of specific policies because we believe he is earnest, sincere, and willing to hear arguments and policy cases from all sides of the aisle. There will be many opportunities to ensure policies are in the interest of consumers.

Issues such as online free speech, upholding Section 230, and how best to avoid government interference in content moderation will prove to be pivotal issues in the next term, and it will be of great benefit to a wide spectrum of American consumers to have someone like Brendan Carr at the helm.

If US Senators confirm Carr for another tenure, we look forward to working together for smart policies to benefit consumers around the country.

Here is a clip of our conversation with FCC Commissioner Carr on Consumer Choice Radio:

FTC Chair Lina Khan’s social media crusade is now just an expensive, taxing grudge against consumers who want cool tech

Red X on all your apps (generated by Midjourney AI)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Extending its crusade against select social media firms, the Federal Trade Commission proposed several scathing amendments to a 2020-era privacy order with Meta on Wednesday, hoping to issue a blanket ban on “monetizing” youth data, a halt on all new innovations or product upgrades, and key criteria on privacy provisions.

The FTC has already attempted to halt several high-profile acquisitions by tech firms since Lina Khan’s ascension to FTC chair, including Microsoft’s purchase of video game company Activision, and Meta’s acquisition of the VR fitness app Within.

Yaël Ossowski, deputy director of the consumer advocacy group Consumer Choice Center, responds:

“These retaliatory actions prove the FTC is now subsumed by a hyperactive crusade against all mergers and acquisitions – and effectively consumer choice, especially when it comes to new technologies. This has a chilling effect on any and all new innovators and remains incredibly paternalistic to tech-native consumers who want robust competition.

“Business models come and go, and consumers should be the ones rewarding or punishing firms and services they want or don’t want to use, not the federal agencies temporarily in charge of competition policy,” added Ossowski.

The accusations by the competition agency that Meta has failed with respect to privacy also seem a bridge too far, especially considering the convoluted patchwork of state privacy laws and federal agency mandates that exist in lieu of a comprehensive federal law to safeguard consumer privacy.

“As consumer advocates, we regard privacy and data security as the most fundamental elements of a consumer’s online experience. But while there are true bad actors that exist and are actively committing offenses right now, the FTC is dead-set on pursuing an ideological agenda against a handful of American tech innovators, all the while excusing or remaining blind to the real privacy violations committed by foreign apps that have much larger reach and sway among young people.

“The FTC’s social media crusade is now just an expensive, taxing grudge against consumers who want cool tech. Consumers would prefer the agency punish bad actors and bad behavior rather than corner American tech companies into a labyrinth of compliance no one could ever reasonably pass.

“We as consumers deserve a vibrant online marketplace where the winners are chosen by us instead of whichever political faction happens to control a federal agency,” concluded Ossowski.

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The Consumer Choice Center is an independent, non-partisan consumer advocacy group championing the benefits of freedom of choice, innovation, and abundance in everyday life.

We champion smart policies that are fit for growth, promote lifestyle choice, and embrace tech innovation for tens of thousands of our members and society-at-large, using research and educational outreach to policymakers and the broader public. Learn more at consumerchoicecenter.org.

L’INCOHÉRENCE DES SUBVENTIONS EN EUROPE

Nous devons revenir aux principes fondateurs du marché commun.

Selon une tendance que j’ai décrite à plusieurs reprises dans La Chronique Agora, les pays européens s’orientent de plus en plus vers des modèles de subventionnement de l’industrie, dans le but de s’aligner sur les très vastes projets des États-Unis visant à soutenir les transitions économiques respectueuses du climat. Cela a créé une situation dans laquelle l’Union européenne punit les États qui soutiennent leur industrie nationale, mais les incite également à le faire.

Prenons un exemple dans lequel la Commission européenne applique strictement les règles anti-subventions de l’Union.

La Commission européenne vient de décider, à juste titre, que les aides d’État accordées par l’Italie à la compagnie aérienne en difficulté Alitalia (qui a depuis fait faillite et s’est rebaptisée « ITA Airways ») n’étaient pas conformes aux règles de l’UE. Rome a accordé à la compagnie aérienne un total de 1,3 milliard d’euros de prêts en 2017 et 2019 – selon Bruxelles – sans indication palpable que la compagnie serait en mesure de rembourser les prêts ; 400 millions d’euros de ce prêt doivent maintenant être remboursés aux contribuables italiens, a statué la Commission. Cependant, ITA Airways affirme qu’elle n’est pas responsable de la dette accumulée par Alitalia, ce qui signifie que Rome ne sera probablement pas en mesure de se conformer à la décision.

« La solution à long terme ne réside pas dans les subventions publiques », explique Ebba Bush, vice-premier ministre et ministre des Affaires suédoise, interrogée sur les projets de l’UE visant à augmenter considérablement les subventions pour contrer la « loi sur la réduction de l’inflation » américaine (IRA). Certaines des plus grandes économies européennes, telles que la France et l’Allemagne, ont fait pression en faveur d’un assouplissement des règles de l’Union en matière d’aides d’État afin de rester compétitives au niveau mondial dans les secteurs verts. Des pays plus petits, dont la Suède, qui assure la présidence tournante du Conseil, ont toutefois averti que le marché intérieur pourrait être menacé si Bruxelles permettait de donner trop d’argent aux plus grandes économies de l’Union.

L’assouplissement des règles relatives aux aides d’État a été motivé par la forte augmentation des prix de l’énergie et le risque de voir l’industrie européenne se déplacer vers les États-Unis en réponse à l’IRA, qui est entré en vigueur en août 2022 et offre des subventions d’une valeur de 369 milliards de dollars pour les « investissements verts », à la suite de quoi les entreprises envisagent de se délocaliser vers les États-Unis.

Margrethe Vestager, vice-commissaire de l’UE, affirme qu’il est essentiel de préserver l’intégrité du marché unique de l’UE. « Quoi que nous fassions, nous devons éviter une course aux subventions », a-t-elle ajouté. La Commission propose de simplifier le calcul des aides d’État, d’accélérer les approbations et d’élargir le champ d’application de l’encadrement temporaire de crise et de transition – adopté à la suite de l’invasion de l’Ukraine par la Russie – afin de « soutenir toutes les sources d’énergie renouvelables possibles ».

Cet encadrement propose également une « option temporaire très exceptionnelle d’aide d’alignement ». Le projet suggère que les États membres soient autorisés à égaler les subventions offertes par les pays tiers, afin de garantir que les investissements ne soient pas « injustement détournés vers le plus offrant en dehors de l’Europe ». Les dispositions ne s’appliquent qu’aux secteurs affectés par l’IRA, et des conditions strictes seraient imposées, notamment si le projet profite à plus d’un État membre, a indiqué Mme Vestager.

Même en prétendant qu’il y aura des contrôles stricts sur l’utilisation des aides d’État, la Commission européenne a des antécédents plutôt occasionnels en ce qui concerne l’application de règles strictes (Alitalia est l’une d’entre elles). En général, Bruxelles énumère toutes sortes de raisons exceptionnelles pour lesquelles un paquet particulier d’un milliard d’euros a été approuvé et, dans le cas de COVID-19, a emprunté des sommes incroyables sur le dos des contribuables de l’UE.

En théorie, l’Union européenne s’efforce de créer un marché exempt de distorsions anticoncurrentielles, mais en réalité, elle ne fait pas grand-chose pour y parvenir. L’IRA américain a touché un point sensible : non seulement l’Europe peut revenir au protectionnisme, mais elle peut aussi le faire en prétendant le faire au nom du développement durable. Après tout, nous diront les bureaucrates, quel meilleur scénario qu’une guerre commerciale qui protège l’environnement ?

Voici les principaux problèmes liés à l’ouverture des portes de l’État dans l’UE :

  • bien que plafonnée à 150 millions d’euros par entreprise, l’aide ne tient pas compte de la taille et des concurrents européens, ce qui signifie qu’elle bénéficiera de manière disproportionnée aux grandes entreprises par rapport aux PME ;
  • les pays les plus pauvres de l’UE – même s’ils sont autorisés – ne sont tout simplement pas en mesure d’accorder autant d’aides d’État qu’un pays comme l’Allemagne, ce qui crée de nouveaux déséquilibres sur le marché ;
  • les grandes entreprises sont également en mesure d’augmenter leurs subventions sur plusieurs continents, car l’UE autorise le dépassement du plafond s’il existe un risque palpable de voir les investissements quitter le marché unique.

Nous devons revenir aux principes fondateurs du marché commun : le libre-échange, l’absence de distorsions du marché dues à des normes réglementaires injustes pour les produits et les services, et l’absence de subventions. Nous ne pouvons tout simplement pas nous le permettre, tant sur le plan financier qu’économique.

Originally published here

Online Security Concerns Shouldn’t Enable a Surveillance State

At the 2012 London Olympics, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, crafted the message “This Is For Everyone.” And at that time digitized opportunities felt limitless. Now, a little more than a decade later, that message might read “This is for Everyone – Pending Oversight and Approval.”

Indeed, tech accountability proposals and high profile hearings with Silicon’s finest were plentiful last year and this year shows no signs of slowing down. Governmental officials of both parties have proven to have a never-ending interest in meddling in online anonymity, as the recently proposed RESTRICT Act shows.

RESTRICT stands for Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communication Technology – the name says it all. 

Essentially, this act grants the Department of Commerce the authority to interfere with any data of any user and prosecute any activity based on any possibility of a threat – and any disapproval for interference derived from Congress can only be brought forth after the fact. If this sounds out of proportion, read it for yourself.

While other proposed bills, such as Section 230, have (wrongly) placed service providers and social media networks as the target for regulation, the RESTRICT Act applies to everyone.

Under the RESTRICT Act, all internet-based interactions and transactions would be subject to surveillance and scrutiny, which is why some have dubbed the RESTRICT Act to be ‘the Patriot Act 2.0.’ Such an assertion, however, is too kind, since the ‘sneak and peek’ approaches that were allowed under the Patriot Act pale in comparison to the constant oversight of online affairs that the RESTRICT Act would enable.

It is also worth noting that the Patriot Act was set to expire in 2005 but, like many government programs, it has been preserved and currently lives on under the USA Freedom Act of 2015. And although the USA Freedom Act had a planned expiration date set for 2020, it is also still hanging on.

It seems unlikely the RESTRICT Act will gain any real traction given its extreme nature, but proposals like these act as prototypes or concept tests for what might come next – and stranger things have happened.

It was just a little over a year ago, for example, when the Biden Administration launched the Disinformation Governance Board, aka the ‘Ministry of Truth.’ Nina Jankowicz, the appointed ‘disinformation czar,’ went viral on TikTok with a revamped (and ridiculed) rendition of ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,’ and backlash quickly ensued as the board was evidently too Orwellian for the American public to stomach. 

The states are getting in on the act too. Take for example the Arkansas legislature’s recent passing of an “online youth safety” bill, which itself mirrors a law which Utah passed last month. 

Arkansas’s Social Media Safety Act, signed by Gov. Sanders, requires all online users to prove whether they are age-appropriate for certain platforms and content, which thereby necessitates the collection of biometric and personal data for ID verification. 

Any online anonymity or semblance of data privacy has been revoked by the state in the name of safeguarding children. Yaël Ossowski, deputy director of the consumer advocacy group Consumer Choice Center, rightly asserts that the government is now poised to be “the final arbiter of whether young people access the Internet at all.” 

Parental ability (and responsibility) to play a part in the digital lives of their children is being delegated to government bureaucrats, and it won’t be long until other state legislatures follow suit. Connecticut looks to be next.

What is truly disturbing about these laws is that they enable government overreach in places that the market has already been providing solutions for online child safety. Concerns over data management and data access have resulted in cyber security’s being one of the fastest growing markets, with lucrative positions for those studying to be information analysts and data scientists. 

As it so happens, none other than Sir Tim Berners-Lee has launched a decentralization project to tackle data rights management. His is one of many initiatives that should be incentivised by user interests and left unencumbered by political interference

Historical and empirical evidence proves that a decentralized economy leads to progress and prosperity, so we should enable our digital economy with the same approach. 

Originally published here

CCC’s comment on the European Union’s Consultation on the Future of Electronic Communications Sector and Its Infrastructure

On April 26, 2023, the Consumer Choice Center submitted comments to the European Commission’s exploratory consultation on the future of the electronic communications sector. This includes comments and thoughts on the proposed “Fair Share” proposal circulated by some EU Member States.

The comments can be read here in full here.

FTC Blocking Microsoft-Activision Will Worsen Consumers’ Gaming

In many households, the word “PlayStation” has become synonymous with gaming in the same way that we now “Google” things or “call an Uber.”

The same with kiwis.

Did you know they are actually a trademark, and the fruit is actually called Chinese gooseberries?

When brand names overtake the initial descriptions of their product, it usually means that they have a majority share in the market.

Sony’s PlayStation is no exception: with a whopping 68% of the international console market, the Japanese company has had a stronghold for decades.

Microsoft is attempting to diversify the market with its Xbox console by acquiring video game publisher Activision, but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has stopped it in its tracks.

This purchase would allow Microsoft to better compete with Sony while giving consumers more choice between devices, including console and PC, which is important since PC gaming plays a significant part in the gaming market.

The FTC claims that the acquisition would “enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.” Its most principal concern is that it will make “Call of Duty”and other popular games Xbox exclusives.

We already know this isn’t true. Microsoft has already made a dealwith Nintendo and provided an offer to Sony to keep Call of Duty on their platforms.

Exclusive content is everywhere.

Streaming platforms have objectively become the kings of exclusivity, fencing in original content to gain subscribers.

Listening to Joe Rogan’s podcast can only be done on Spotify, while publishers often get paid by console companies like Sony to keep their products off other platforms.

Sometimes, exclusivity sells; sometimes it doesn’t.

When exclusivity becomes frustrating to consumers, they often abandon the products or services in question altogether.

The UK’s competition watchdog already determined that Microsoft-Activision falls within the latter camp. Stating that exclusivity would be loss-making for Microsoft, it wrote that, “The updated analysis now shows that it would not be commercially beneficial to Microsoft to make CoD exclusive to Xbox following the deal, but that Microsoft will instead still have the incentive to continue to make the game available on PlayStation.”

The deals Microsoft has made with other consoles prove it, yet the FTC still refuses to concede this point and back off its hold.

As an analyst at a consumer group dedicated to promoting and protecting competition, this concerns me for a number of reasons. It’s emblematic of regulators and policymakers’ overuse of antitrust law in this new digital age.

Whether it’s suggesting that Amazon.com should not be able to bundle service in its Prime subscription or that Apple shouldn’t be allowed to pre-install FaceTime on its phones, Washington’s use of a big stick to sideswipe competition hurts the marketplace in a number of ways.

It restricts innovation by reducing the options of products and services firms could offer, it allows the government to decide winners and losers in lieu of consumers, and it raises prices through reduced competition and compliance costs.

Free competition enables consumers to decide on the better product with their pocketbooks. As long as market entry rules are fair, regulatory barriers low, and an industry doesn’t benefit from unjust subsidization; the FTC has no reason to intervene.

Originally published here

The best answer to TikTok is a forced divestiture 

As consumer advocates, we pride ourselves as standing for policies that promote policies fit for growth, lifestyle freedom, and tech innovation. 

In usual regulatory circumstances, that means protecting consumers’ platform and tech choices  from the zealous hands of regulators and government officials who would otherwise seek to shred basic Internet protections and freedom of speech, as well as break up innovative tech companies. Think Section 230, government jawboning, and consequences of deplatforming.

As such, the antitrust crusades by select politicians and agency heads in the United States and Europe are of primary concern for consumer choice. We have written extensively about this, and better ways forward. Many of these platforms make mistakes and severe errors on content moderation, often in response to regulatory concerns. But that does not invite trust-busting politicians and regulators to meddle with companies that consumers value.

In the background of each of these legislative battles and proposals, however, there is a special example found in the Chinese-owned firm TikTok, today one of the most popular social apps on the planet. 

RELATED: Forcing TikTok’s divestiture from the CCP is both reasonable and necessary

The Special Case of TikTok

Now owned by Bytedance, TikTok offers a similar user experience to Instagram Reels, Snapchat, or Twitter, but is supercharged by an algorithm that serves up short videos that entice users with constant content that autoloads and scrolls by. Many social phenomena, dances, and memes propagate via TikTok.

In terms of tech innovation and its proprietary algorithm, TikTok is a dime a dozen. There is a reason it is one of the most downloaded apps on mobile devices in virtually every market and language. 

Researchers have already revealed that China’s own domestic version of TikTok, Douyin, restricts content for younger users. Instead of dances and memes, Douyin features science experiments, educational material, and time limits for underage users. TikTok, on the other hand, seems to have a suped-up algorithm that has an ability to better attract, and hook, younger children.

What makes it special for consumer concern beyond the content, however, is its ownership, privacy policies, and  far-too-cozy relationship with the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, the same party that oversees concentration camps of its Muslim minority and repeatedly quashes human rights across its territories.

It has already been revealed that European users of the TikTok can, and have, had their data accessed by company officials in Beijing. And the same goes for US users. Considering the ownership location and structure, there isn’t much that can be done about this.

Unlike tech companies in liberal democracies, Chinese firms require direct corporate oversight and governance by Chinese Communist Party officials – often military personnel. In the context of a construction company or domestic news publisher, this doesn’t seemingly put consumers in liberal democracies at risk. But a popular tech app downloaded on the phones of hundreds of millions of users? That is a different story.

How best to address TikTok in a way that upholds liberal democratic values

Among liberal democracies, there are a myriad of opinions about how to approach the TikTok beast.

US FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wants a total ban, much in line with Sen. Josh Hawley’s proposed ban in the U.S. Senate and U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s similar ban in the House. But there are other ways that would be more in line with liberal democratic values.

One solution we would propose, much in line with the last US administration’s stance, would be a forced divestiture to a U.S.-based entity on national security grounds. This would mean a sale of US assets (or assets in liberal democracies) to an entity based in those countries that would be completely independent of any CCP influence.

In 2019-2020, when President Donald Trump floated this idea, a proposed buyer of TikTok’s U.S. assets would have been Microsoft, and later Oracle. But the deal fell through.

But this solution is not unique.

We have already seen such actions play out with vital companies in the healthcare space, including PatientsLikeMe, which uses sensitive medical data and real-time data to connect patients about their conditions and proposed treatments. 

When the firm was flooded with investments from Chinese partners, the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) ruled that a forced divestiture would have to take place. The same has been applied to a Chinese ownership stake in Holu Hou Energy, a U.S.-subsidiary energy storage company.

In vital matters of energy and popular consumer technology controlled by elements of the Chinese Communist Party, a forced divestiture to a company regulated and overseen by regulators in liberal democratic nations seems to be the most prudent measure.

This has not yet been attempted for a wholly-owned foreign entity active in the US, but we can see why the same concerns apply.

An outright ban or restriction of an app would not pass constitutional muster in the US, and would have chilling effects for future innovation that would reverberate beyond consumer technology.

This is a controversial topic, and one that will require nuanced solutions. Whatever the outcome, we hope consumers will be better off, and that liberal democracies can agree on a common solution that continues to uphold our liberties and choices as consumers.

Yaël Ossowski is the deputy director of the Consumer Choice Center.

Time for the EU to Counter TikTok

The free world is growing increasingly suspicious about the popular Chinese social media platform TikTok. In only the latest example, Canadian authorities are warning its citizens about the dangers of using the app for both their privacy and security.

Although TikTok denies sharing sensitive information about users with the Chinese government, the head of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) Canadian Centre for Cyber Security still cautions users about the security of personal and contact information they share with the app.

Canada might be following in the footsteps of the United States, where, due to national security concerns, the usage of the Chinese app has been banned by the federal government for their employees on work-related devices. Moreover, several US states and public universities have followed the same path.

These actions, which mirror nuanced policy measures that aim to hold the app accountable while ensuring no sensitive devices download the app, are a new reality for liberal democracies aiming to ensure the security and privacy of its citizens and state employees. 

The Consumer Choice Center has already voiced concerns about the app’s growing number of vulnerable users in the European Union, and the influence of the CCP. Looking at the involvement of the Chinese Communist Party in the tech giant and its record of mass surveillance and human rights violations, lawmakers in the European Union should also start considering how to deal with TikTok. Although the parent company of the app has denied the abuse of individual data, it is more than worrying to experience how users’ personal information is being harvested and can be used once in the wrong hands.

There are more reasons to be concerned than just the dance videos and contact information uploaded to the popular sharing app. The Chinese government has invested heavily in artificial intelligence with mass surveillance in the past decade, and TikTok is only the latest iteration. 

Companies like Huawei or the state-owned CCTV manufacturers Hikvision and Dahua have already reached the level of worry in the European Union and been seriously considered by communications agencies and parliaments. As a result, Hikvision fever cameras, used during COVID, have already been banned from the premises due to human rights concerns. The Chinese Communist Party uses these cameras in serious human rights abuses against its Uyghur population.

It is time for the EU to step up its measures regarding TikTok as well before it is too late. We must emphasize that in expanding differences between liberal democracies and illiberal ones, the free world must understand how to properly address the technologies built and controlled by totalitarian regimes, hoping we can avoid severe security issues that will harm us in the long run. 

Therefore, the EU must consider smart policies to counter or curb TikTok’s influence among our state and governmental institutions. It may be a small step, but in the end we must favor technologies that help empower consumers and citizens, rather than subjugate them to the malicious influence of a totalitarian regime.

Hey buddy, consumers don’t need protection from natural gas stoves

The degrowther cacophony of environmentalists, bureaucrats, and supposed consumer advocates has found a new enemy to protect you from: the gas stove in your kitchen.

As spelled out by U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. in a recent Bloomberg interview, a federal “ban on gas stoves is on the table amid rising concern about harmful indoor air pollutants.”

Trumka joins the chorus of enterprising journalists, academics, and green activists (and even the World Economic Forum) who have taken up the agency’s call to not only make a health case against kitchen stoves that heat food with natural gas, but also the environmental and moral one.

An article in New York Magazine asked, rather innocently, “are gas stoves the new cigarettes?” We all know what follows.

Humbly, Trumka later clarified the agency wouldn’t propose banning them, but would instead only apply strict regulations to “new products,” following cities like San Francisco and New York City, and entire states like New York (no surprise) that have already enacted bans on natural gas hook-ups for new construction. It should be noted that the majority of these proposed actions were based on environmental claims rather than health claims, and the most prominent advocates have been “environmental law” experts and the like.

Of course, they’ll say they don’t want to outlaw gas stoves in your home or dispatch agents to rip them from your kitchens and load them onto flatbeds. That’s silly. They just want to use the force of laws, guidance, and incentives to nudge consumers away from a natural gas standard. The federal government’s ineptly named Inflation Reduction Act will go a long way.

If you voluntarily swap your gas stove for an electric one, the IRA deems you eligible for a tax rebate of up to $840 — which would easily subsidize your lifestyle “choice”. This is similar to the law’s incentives for buying electric vehicles, installing solar panels, and fitting new construction with green-friendly tech.

While subsidies for your home kitchen may be all the rage, it’s understandable why this issue has become a cultural flashpoint.

For average consumers, the advantages of using a gas stove are plentiful. For one, they heat quickly and efficiently, reducing the time and energy used to cook a meal. They offer heat moderation that any meal would require. And because natural gas is a separate utility hook-up, it means that in the case of brownouts or power outages, you can still cook, boil water, and heat your food.

Restaurant chefs are slavishly reliant on natural gas to provide the best source of heat for lunchtimes and dinners for hungry patrons, as are Americans of more modest income who can more cheaply provide food at home using natural gas than increasing their electricity bill.

The disadvantages of natural gas stoves, according to the activists, are they could leak nitrogen oxides into your home, which, when wedded with improper ventilation, presents a risk for childhood asthma and other health concerns. In addition, that gas leakage could contribute to greenhouse emissions, which links it to climate change.

When Trumka first entertained a natural gas stove ban — on a December private Zoom meeting with the Public Interest Research Group Education Fund — the asthma risk was front and center. He went so far as to call it a “hazard,” which boggled our minds at Consumer Choice Center, considering the extent of our work clarifying the errors of legislating based on risks instead of hazards.

For a look into the studies, economist Emily Oster recently did this on her Substack, and her conclusion is that the risks claimed by researchers are actually so minimal that they aren’t worth taking seriously for anyone who has a properly vented kitchen and up-to-date appliances.

While indoor air pollution is indeed a serious hazard, it is not one that affects US households. Hood vents, air conditioning, and modern construction have avoided this issue for nearly all Americans, as the EPA admits. The effect on climate change is also negligent, considering that conversion to all-electric stoves does nothing to clean up the energy grid or move all electricity generation to carbon-neutral alternatives.

Why then is this issue gathering so much steam among consumer advocates like PIRG, which began a campaign against natural gas stoves early last year?

While they may be sincere in their aims, it amounts to yet another crusade against consumer choice. People know the risks of gas stoves and the cost-benefit analysis that comes with purchasing one. Having a gas stove with children running around isn’t ideal, and in most cases, an induction stove is likely even more efficient and desirable.

But the entire purpose of having a variety of stoves is to offer users — professional chefs and home cooks alike — the option that fits best with their lifestyle and budget. There are always risks when it comes to home appliances, energy applications, and what we bring into our homes.

But we would rather trust consumers to make this decision than a regulatory agency with its own agenda.

Is the FTC kneecapping VR before it even gets off the ground?

In a courtroom in San Joe, California today, the US government squared off against a social media company and grilled that company’s CEO about its investments in another technology company, and its general business strategy for the new field of wearable virtual reality.

The app in question, the fitness VR app Within, is poised to be acquired by social media giant Meta (formerly Facebook) for use on its virtual reality headsets and ecosystem.

The deal itself has not yet been finalized, but that hasn’t stopped the nation’s antitrust agency from flexing its muscles in Silicon Valley.

When Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand today, lawyers from the Federal Trade Commission aimed to pepper him on the overall business strategy of Meta’s well-known pivot to the metaverse, or virtual reality space, and whether his plans were about…business success?

If the FTC succeeds, it will halt Meta’s purchase of the workout app Within, developed by Los Angeles developers beginning in 2014. While that may put smiles on the faces of some regulators and populist politicians in Washington, D.C., it will do nothing for consumers. And it may even harm the future development of this entire sector.

At last estimate, the entire “metaverse economy” is projected to one day be worth either $800 billion or even trillions by 2030. Meta itself has poured in an ungodly $10 billion in the last year alone, and its own products are still rather limited in terms of user adoption.

The fact that the FTC and other regulators are trying to kneecap virtual reality, before it really even begins, is more startling than anything else.

If the last two decades of economic growth and innovation from Silicon Valley have taught us anything, it is that capital, talent, and business acumen are crucial ingredients for success and user satisfaction, but it isn’t everything. A supportive infrastructure, an investment-friendly climate, and a high demand for developers and skilled employees are also necessary and bring with them exponential benefits.

The companies and firms that have spun off from talent formerly of giants like Google and PayPal — not to speak of Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and the rest of the PayPay Mafia — have undoubtedly made consumers’ lives better, and helped our economy grow beyond leaps and bounds.

Among those successes, there have been thousands more failures, but those have been at the hands of consumers and users rather than government agencies and federal lawsuits by regulators. And if the media coverage surrounding this case gives any indication, it seems much of this action stems not from antitrust law or precedent, but rather as a kind of payback.

The Associated Press ran a bizarre “analysis” last week, framing the FTC v. Meta/Within case as some kind of retribution for Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in 2012. Back then, that decision was largely panned by technology journalists and never received a peep from regulators. Since then, it is grown to become one of the most popular apps found in app stores.

Considering Instagram’s success in the last decade, thanks to investments and entrepreneurial prowess by Meta, as some kind of evidence to halt all future mergers and acquisitions of a company that over a billion global consumers is not only wrong, but it begs the question of why the FTC is even involved in the first place.

Consumers benefit when competitors compete, when innovators innovate, and when laws provide regulatory clarity and guidance to protect consumers and police bad actors.

But this case seems more like a hunt for ghosts of Christmas past rather than protecting us from any real harm. And it may do more damage than regulators estimate.

My colleague Satya Marar summed this up in RealClear last month:

Start-ups depend on millions in investment to develop and deploy their products. Investors value these firms based not only on the viability of their products, but on the firm’s potential resale value. Larger firms also often acquire smaller ones to apply their resources, existing expertise and economies of scale to further develop their ideas or to expand them to more users.

Making mergers and acquisitions more expensive, without strong evidence they’ll hurt consumers, makes it tougher for start-ups to attract the capital they need and will only deter innovators from striking out on their own or developing ideas that could improve our lives in an environment where 90% of start-ups eventually fail and 58% expect to be acquired.

The job of the FTC is not to protect consumers from innovations that have not yet happened. That should be the furthered thing for its mission. Rather, it should be focused on consumer welfare, punishing bad actors that take advantage of consumers, break laws, and promote real consumer harm.

Mergers and acquisitions provide value for consumers because they match great ideas and technology with the funding and support to scale them for public benefit. Especially considering the metaverse is so new, it is frankly bewildering that we would be wasting millions in taxpayer dollars to chase down an investment before it even bears fruit — just because a company was too successful last time.

When it comes to our regulatory agencies, we have to ask who they are looking out for when it comes to consumer wants and wishes: the consumers that wish to benefit from future innovations.? Or incumbent players who want to slay the largest dragon in the room.

In this case, it seems the FTC has stretched a bit too far, and consumers may be worse off for it.

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