Abstract
Thanks to appropriate data algorithms, firms, especially those on-line, are able to extract detailed knowledge about consumers and markets. This raises the question of the essential facility character of data. Moreover, the features of digital markets lead to a concentration of this core input in the hands of few big “superstars” and arouse legitimate economic and societal concerns. In a more and more data-driven society, one could ask if data openness is a solution to deal with power derived from data concentration. We conclude that only a case-by-case approach should be followed. Mandatory open data policy should be conditioned on an ex-ante cost-benefit analysis proving that the benefits of disclosure exceed its costs.
Claire Borsenberger: Senior Economist, Head of ‘Doctrine and Modelization’ Department; Direction of Institutional Affairs and Regulation—Groupe La Poste. The opinions expressed here are ours and do not necessarily reflect the position of La Poste.
Mathilde Hoang: Apprentice in the department ‘Doctrine and Modelization’; Student of Master “Network Industries and Digital Economy”, TELECOM ParisTech.
Denis Joram: Head of Regulation and Study Division; Direction of Institutional Affairs and Regulation—Groupe La Poste.
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Notes
- 1.
Data mining is the process of discovering patterns in large data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems.
- 2.
For example, fresh air is non-excludable, because it is impossible to stop several people in the same area from breathing the same fresh air.
- 3.
Metadata is data (information) that provides information about other data. For example, a digital image may include metadata that describes how large the picture is, the color depth, the image resolution, when the image was created, the shutter speed, and other data.
- 4.
For the moment, nine datasets have been identified as benchmark data: National Address Database, Enterprise Database (SIRENE file), Geographic official code, Cadastral Map, Landing register, Reference document on the organization of State, Big Level Reference document, National file of associations and the Reference document of jobs and professions.
- 5.
Economists generally support the marginal cost pricing of government data (de Vries et al., 2011, Pollock, 2008), or even zero pricing (Newbery, Bently, & Pollock, 2008). The imposition of access charges above the marginal costs of producing and distributing information results in a double of burden of economic inefficiency. The first-order effect is the curtailment of the use of the information or the increased cost of using it to produce conventional commodities and services, and hence the loss of utility derived from such products by consumers. A second round of inefficiency is incurred by the inhibition of further research which otherwise would be the source of more public goods in the form of new knowledge. But according to Pénin (2013), “gratuity is not a necessary condition for achieving openness. A piece of knowledge can be considered as open even if one has to pay in order to reuse it, provided that the fees are not prohibitive” (p. 134).
- 6.
According to recital 22 and article 3 of this proposal, all documents that the public undertaking are made available for re-use will fall within the scope of the Directive and will be re-usable for commercial and non-commercial purposes under the conditions set in the Directive.
- 7.
According to article 2, high-value datasets means documents the re-use of which is associated with important socio-economic benefits, notably because of their suitability for the creation of value-added services and applications, and the number of potential beneficiaries of the value-added services and applications based on these datasets.
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Borsenberger, C., Hoang, M., Joram, D. (2018). Open-Data: A Solution When Data Constitutes an Essential Facility?. In: Parcu, P., Brennan, T., Glass, V. (eds) New Business and Regulatory Strategies in the Postal Sector. Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02937-1_11
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