The Context: Policies And Monopolies

When new technologies emerge, it is always an important question: what can we do for the market to fully express itself? If regulators need to intervene in order to make sure that the market is healthy, with a plurality of players competing in order to provide the best possible service to those that use the products in this new market, what should they do? Is it possible to see and and find examples where the regulators provided the right kind of incentives? Is it possible to find other examples, where the regulators failed, and the market finds itself in a situation that is certainly less than optimal?

What is the role of the new technologies? They change the rules of the game, they make abundant something that was previously scarce. New technologies make business models possible, where the relationship between suppliers and intermediary producers, and consumers gets completely restructured. Most importantly, new technologies make novel products and services possible things that literally look magical, if we were able to see them with the eyes of the past.

I supported Cory Doctorow and his new kickstarter campaign, aiming to break the gridlock that Audible has on audiobooks. He also was a guest on Searching For The Question Live, where we spoke about how regulations are impacting the emerging technologies, specifically audiobooks and podcasts, where it may see the necessity of a regulator stepping in because of the market’s failure to stop monopolistic practices.