AOL’s claim of security and privacy concerns for its refusal to m...
AOL’s claim of security and privacy concerns for its refusal to make its instant messaging (IM) services interoperable with competitors gained “sympathetic ear” at FCC but company provided “zero evidence” to support that claim, FCC Chief Economist Gerald Faulhaber…
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told American Enterprise Institute seminar on “Instant Messaging and the AOL-Time Warner Merger” Wed. All that Commission heard from AOL on issue was that “you don’t want dirty pictures coming up before your kids.” FCC would have liked to have seen more evidence on switching costs and concerns about spamming and viruses, but AOL didn’t submit such material in record, he said. In absence of evidence to support claims of security and privacy risks to customers and switching costs, Commission concluded that IM market had tipped toward AOL. AOL’s argument that its competitors’ market share had grown was compelling, he said, but that argument against tipping was relevant only in mature market. Although IM has seen rapid growth, market was far from mature, Faulhaber said. Remedy FCC had adopted in requiring interoperability before AOL offered advanced IM services wasn’t focused on existing IM but on underlying Names and Presence Database (NPD) input and its use in advanced IM, Faulhaber said. Company could have dealt with security and privacy issues by having 2 services -- one that was interoperable and other that wasn’t, he said.