We must deal with the increasing balkanization of Apps, Smartphones and Devices

The ARCEP - the French Telecom Regulator - released its first “State Of The Internet” report, and it fears for Net Neutrality in Europe and elsewhere

I have been interviewed by the ARCEP, the French Telecom Regulator, on the impact of the increased balkanization of apps and devices on Net Neutrality, or to be more precise, on interoperability and interconnectivity for users.

The problem is simple.

In 2011, Cory Doctorow declared at the Chaos Computer Club:

“The world we live in today is made of computers.”

In 2017, it is only more true. There are computers everywhere, from your pocket to your tv, from your fridge to your book reader.

As he added:

“We don’t have cars anymore; we have computers we ride in. We don’t have airplanes anymore; we have flying Solaris boxes attached to bucketfuls of industrial control systems. A 3D printer is not a device, it’s a peripheral, and it only works connected to a computer. A radio is no longer a crystal: it’s a general-purpose computer, running software.”

From my point of view, Net Neutrality as Tube Neutrality is not enough.

It’s a regression from 30 years ago when you could connect any phone to the network and be able to call any other phone, whatever its manufacturer.

Things are different today, and it’s preoccupying for two reasons.

First, how come people need around 10 applications in their phone to communicate one with each other?

Count them: your email app, your sms app, Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Signal, Snapchat, Telegram, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin. And that’s being conservative. Still, none of these apps communicate together. You can’t send something from one to the other. And they won’t allow you to export your history or your contacts.

Second, how come all of this market is becoming more and more concentrated around a few oligopolies?

Peter Thiel famously said that “competition is for losers”. Well, sms and mail apps are getting controlled by Apple and Google, Facebook bought Whatsapp and Instagram, Snapchat bought Zenly and Microsoft bought Linkedin. As of today, only a few companies operate worldwide, and they try as hard as they can to forbid new ones to emerge.

The ARCEP decided to get to the roots of these problems by concentrating on Devices and Operating Systems.

Net Neutrality regulation mainly deals with internet access networks, especially in Europe where it’s the probably the strongest in the world thanks to Regulation 2015/2120 that went into force on April 30.

But the openness of the Internet depends on a full technical chain, in which many players, which are not targeted by the regulation, have the ability to limit actual access to certain online services and applications for both users and companies operating on the internet.

The ARCEP has identified four main types of restriction that will need to be addressed in the future:

• those resulting from the characteristics of the device being used (physical fixed or mobile device),
• those that can be attributed to software developments,
• those resulting from operating systems’ and app stores’ editorial policies,
• lastly, those resulting from device suppliers’ business models.

The ARCEP could have added the restrictions related to the exchange of data between applications as this will probably be a main source of conflict when data portability will become a right for EU citizens in May 2018, thanks to the latest EU regulation, the infamous GRDP.

Also, these issues are becoming even more concerning now that the Internet of Things is becoming a reality. How will you do if your connected fridge refuse to communicate with your connected watch? Will you be constrained to buy appliances that can only interoperate one with each other? Will you have to limit your choices to one or two brands only?

As of today, the Open internet regulation is focused primarily on Internet Service Providers. It’s time to pay attention to end-user devices, but also to their operating systems and their app stores.

Competition might be for losers, but in the end, who do you want to win? You or the company that provide you with services?

Competition is for losers, and it’s a good thing because I am sure you want to be the winner.