US: Former FTC Chairman seeks balance in Big Tech debate

In the debate between breaking up Big Tech and homing in more on privacy regulation, some observers propose seeking a balance. Former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman and George Washington University Law School Professor William Kovacic believes there’s a “synthesis” between the two sides, but he thinks US Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Democrat – Massachusetts) was right to bring up the issues, CNBC reported.

“It’s time and useful to have a rethink of what we’ve been doing,” Kovacic said. But he noted that the more cautious approach from the other direction raises questions about how that will be done and what techniques will be used to make changes. Even so, Kovacic said Warren is providing a useful service by bringing the issue to light, but the more cautious approach of a number of Republicans and some Democrats is to temper the way to address it.

“That could produce an acceptable result,” Kovacic said. He also pointed out that there appears to have been a drop-off in the number of new startups over the past decade, with fewer companies coming in the market and stimulating continued developments. The main competitive issue for consumers, Kovacic said, is “we’re not having the same level of vitality that we’ve had in the past.”