Tomorrow’s online world: Regulating Google & Facebook

The internet is a big place and companies like Facebook are dominating major parts of it. The concept of regulation has been floating about for a few years now and, more recently, Google and Facebook have found themselves in front of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) following privacy violations.

What regulators are doing now isn’t a very accurate approach according to Matthew Howett, Ovum’s regulations and policy practice leader. At this year’s Korea Communications Conference, Howett explored the new disruptive technological space and what it means for regulators and the need for them adapt by stepping away from the “hands-off” approach they currently employ.

“Regulators and policy-makers around the world are facing new challenges which will require equipping them with new powers to deal with the problems and players outside of their traditional domains. These challenges have emerged from the rise of so-called ‘over-the-top’ players challenging the traditional telcos business model,” says Howett.

He reckons before now it was easy to regulate traditional telcos but online technological giants such as Google and Facebook pose a new challenge.

“The issue of dominance is key when it comes to companies such as Google. It’s part of our every day lives and it is constantly innovating. Maps and many of its product constantly changing. These types on innovation need to benefit the consumer and at some point regulators have to step in without controlling the process.”

According to Howett, regulators have been primarily focussed on two things: preventing anti-competitive discrimination and Increasing transparency for consumers.

He reckons the overall aim of regulators must be to ensure that consumers continue to benefit from both innovation in services and investment in networks.

Another issue, which Howett agrees regulators have been focusing on lately, is privacy. He uses Facebook as an example: “Facebook has access to all our data, they know everything about you. Where you were born, who you are with and where you like to eat.”

Howett thinks all that data should be fluid because at the moment we are not sure who the data belongs to. “It’s a fundamental question, ‘when I leave Facebook what happens to all that data?’ It’s my whole life on there.”

The amount of data giants like Google and Facebook have on users will continue to grow as these companies innovate and add more ways for us to move our offline lives online.

The solution here, Howett says, is to make that data moveable from one social network to another, after all it is “technically” the user’s. He also believes the use of this data by companies such as Facebook needs to be closely watched by regulators.