Mind the gap : private power, online information flows and EU law

Abstract

This thesis examines how European Union law and regulation address concentrations of private economic power which impede free information flows on the Internet to the detriment of Internet users' autonomy. In particular, competition law, sector specific regulation (if it exists), data protection and human rights law are considered and assessed to the extent they can tackle such concentrations of power for the benefit of users. Illustrative case studies - of Internet provision, search, mobile devices and app stores, and the cloud – are chosen to demonstrate the gaps that exist in current EU law and regulation when applied to concentrations of private power online. It is argued that these gaps exist due, in part, to current overarching trends guiding the regulation of economic power, namely neoliberalism, by which only the situation of market failures can invite ex ante rules, buoyed by the lobbying of regulators and legislators by those in possession of such economic power to achieve outcomes which favour their businesses. Given this systemic, and extra-legal, nature of the reasons as to why the gaps exist, some 'quick fixes' from outside the system are proposed at the end of each case study, namely the potential for applying regulation and/or applying 'self-help' solutions, which are mainly technical measures using peer-to-peer design.