Wired

Platform giants need to meet the public interest standard, just like broadcast media. Even if antitrust enforcement moves forward, as Harvard’s Gene Kimmelman has argued, “social welfare regulations are also required.” This is why there have also been calls for the creation of a new regulatory agency focused on digital platforms. Such an agency would need to be able to address not only concerns about competition but also these broader social welfare concerns. Essentially, then, we need a robust public interest framework for platform regulation.

Wi-Fi officially launched 20 years ago, on September 15, 1999. There are many ways in which Wi-Fi might not have become ubiquitous, and instead HomeRF (home radio frequency) remained a competing standard. Had the Wireless Ethernet Compatability Alliance (WECA) chose to focus on just business connectivity, not "go-anywhere" connectivity, workers would have used "FlankSpeed" (a re-envisioned "Wi-Fi") at the office and HomeRF at home. It would be more difficult to bring work home with you. Neither an embattled FlankSpeed nor HomeRF could ever have been as cheap, or as pervasive, as Wi-Fi.