Picking up where Daniel Savickas left off yesterday, David McGarry argues against the American Innovation and Choice Online Act:
Besides being a disaster for consumers, the AICOA would also retard innovation. It forbids covered platforms from “materially” restricting the capacity of competitors’ products to “interoperate” with their own. This means that covered platforms would be banned from creating products that can only be fully utilized in conjunction with the platform’s other goods and services. For example, Apple may be required to re-code its app suite, which is designed to be used as a cohesive unit, to make each program more compatible with apps from other developers. This measure would drive product homogeneity and create compliance costs for existing players and new startups alike.
Such technocratic market asphyxiation is what has left Europe stagnant and outpaced, particularly in the tech sector. Continental regulators have widely stifled growth and innovation, most recently moving to make the USB-C the only legal charger for most electronic devices. This move and similar policies are antithetical to the climate of innovation that created the USB-C cable in the first place.
Read the whole thing here.