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Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms

Approx. 60 hours to complete

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Course Summary

This course explores the inner workings of internet giants such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple. You will learn about their business models, strategies, and the impact they have on society.

Key Learning Points

Gain an understanding of the business models and strategies of internet giants
Learn about the impact of internet giants on society
Explore the challenges and opportunities presented by internet giants

Learning Outcomes

Understand the business models and strategies of internet giants
Assess the impact of internet giants on society
Identify challenges and opportunities presented by internet giants

Prerequisites or good to have knowledge before taking this course

Basic understanding of business and technology
Interest in the impact of technology on society

Course Difficulty Level

Intermediate

Course Format

Video Lectures
Quizzes
Assignments

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Description

This seven-week course will explore the relationship between law and technology with a strong focus on the law of the United States with some comparisons to laws around the world, especially in Europe. Tech progress is an important source of economic growth and raises broader questions about the human condition, including how culture evolves and who controls that evolution. Technology also matters in countless other ways as it often establishes the framework in which governments interact with their citizens, both in allowing speech and blocking it and in establishing exactly what the boundaries are between private life and the government. And technology itself is powerfully shaped by the laws that apply in areas as diverse as copyright, antitrust, patents, privacy, speech law and the regulation of networks.

The course will explore seven topics: 1. Microsoft: The Desktop vs. The Internet. We will start with a look at the technology path that led to the first personal computer in early 1975, the Altair 8800. That path starts with the vacuum tube, moves to transistors, then to integrated circuits and finally to the microprocessor. We will look at the early days of software on the personal computer and the competition between selling software and open-source approaches as well as the problem of software piracy. We will discus the public good nature of software. The 1981 launch of the IBM PC revolutionized the personal computer market and started the path to Microsoft's powerful position and eventual monopoly in that market with the selection of MS-DOS. We then turn to four antitrust cases against Microsoft: (1) the 1994 U.S. case relating to MS-DOS licensing practices; (2) the U.S. antitrust middleware case over Microsoft’s response to Netscape Navigator; (3) the European Union case regarding Windows Media Player; and (4) the EU browser case over Internet Explorer. These disputes arose at the point of maximal competition between the free-standing personal computer and the Internet world that would come after it and we may know enough now to assess how these cases influenced that competition. 2. Google Emerges (and the World Responds). Google has emerged as one of the dominant platforms of the Internet era and that has led to corresponding scrutiny by regulators throughout the world. Decisions that Google makes about its algorithm can be life altering. Individuals are finding it more difficult to put away past mistakes, as Google never forgets, and businesses can find that their sales plummet if Google moves them from the first page of search results to a later page. With great power comes scrutiny and we will look at how government regulators have evaluated how Google has exercised its power. Both the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the European Union have undertaken substantial investigations of Google’s practices and we will look at both of those. 3. Smartphones. The Internet started on the desktop but the Internet is increasingly mobile and people are seemingly tethered to their smartphones and tablets. And we have seen an interesting shift in that market away from Nokia handsets and the Blackberry to Apple's iPhone and its iOS platform and to the Android platform. The legal infrastructure of smartphones and tablets is extraordinarily complex. We will start by looking at U.S. spectrum policy and the effort to free up 500 megahertz of spectrum. We will look at the activities of standard setting organizations, including the IEEE and the creation of the 802.11 standard and Wi-Fi (or, if you prefer, wifi), the creation of patent pools and the regulation of standard essential patents. We will look at the FTC action against Google/Motorola Mobility and Apple's lawsuit against Samsung over utility and design patents relating to the iPhone. Finally, we will take a brief look at the European Commission's investigation into the Android platform. 4. Nondiscrimination and Network Neutrality. Facebook has more than 1 billion users and measure that against a world population of roughly 7 billion and a total number of Internet users of roughly 2.5 billion. A course on law and technology simply has to grapple with the basic framework for regulating the Internet and a key idea there is the notion of network neutrality. Nondiscrimination obligations are frequent in regulated network industries, but at the same, discrimination can be an important tool of design for communication networks. We will start our look at the Internet by looking at the great first communications network of the United States, the post office and will look in particular at the Post Office Act of 1845. We will then move to modern times and will consider efforts by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to produce sensible and sustainable nondiscrimination conditions for the Internet and will touch briefly on comparisons from around the world. 5. The Day the Music Died? In many ways, the Internet came first to music with the rise of peer-to-peer (p2p) music sharing through Napster and its successors. We start with a look into music platform history and the devices that brought recorded music into the home: the phonograph and the player piano. We turn to radio and the legal regime that puts music on the airwaves, the performing rights organizations like ASCAP and BMI. We look at the antitrust issues associated with the blanket license. We consider a failed music platform, digital audio tape, and the complicated legal regime associated with it, the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992. We will consider the copyright issues raised by the creation and distribution of music and the litigation over the p2p technologies such as Napster and Grokster. The music industry responded to p2p technology by adding digital rights management tools to CDs. As music distribution switched from physical media to digital distribution, we entered the world of Apple and the iPod and iTunes. We consider the DRM issues associated with Apple's music platform as seen by Steve Jobs. We conclude by looking at emerging subscription services like Spotify and the service that Apple is building based on its purchase of Beats. 6. Video: Listening and Watching. Images are some of the most powerful ways in which ideas and speech are communicated and video has long been regulated by the state. That starts as a communications law issue with government regulation of the radio spectrum, but also leads to the design of the television system with the assignment of channels and eventually the definition of digital television. And with the emergence first of cable TV and subsequently the VCR critical copyright roadblocks had to be overcome for new distribution technologies to emerge. We will consider the legal engineering that led to the DVD platform, which was an exercise in patent pools and trademark creation. We will sort through the creation of the digital TV platform and will also look at the copyright underpinnings for Netflix. And we will consider the question of technology neutrality in the content of the copyright fight over a new video distribution entrant, Aereo. Finally, we close the week with a brief look at the incentive spectrum auctions and the possible end of broadcast television. 7. The Mediated Book. Gutenberg revolutionized books with his printing press and for academics, books are sacred objects. But the printed book is on the run and with the rise of the ebook, we are entering a new era, the era of the mediated book. This is more than just a change in technology. We will look at the issues created by the rise of the ebook, issues about control over content and licensing and of the privacy of thought itself. We will also look at the legal skirmishes over this space, including the copyright fair use litigation over Google Books, the Apple e-book antitrust case. And we will look at the Amazon Kindle platform.

Outline

Introduction to the Course
Trailer
Course Overview
Welcome to the Course!

Microsoft: The Desktop v. The Internet
Very Very Fast 0s and 1s
The 1956 AT&T Settlement
The Path to the CPU
Building BASIC
Selling Software?
The Rise of Microsoft and the Personal Computer Era
The 1994 Licensing Case: Microsoft's Monopoly
The 1994 Licensing Case: Anticompetitive Licenses
The 1994 Licensing Case: Anticompetitive Licenses: Analytics
The Rise of the Internet and Netscape Part One
The Rise of the Internet and Netscape Part Two
The U.S. Sues Microsoft (Again) Part One
The U.S. Sues Microsoft (Again) Part Two
Resolution in the U.S.
Remedies: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Microsoft?
Windows Media Player in Europe
Europe Looks at Internet Explorer
Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?
Top Readings
Slides for Module
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Updates and Corrections
Sources and Copyright Statement
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Graded Quiz

Google Emerges (and the World Responds)
Overview
The State of the Internet Circa 2000
A Brief Tour of the Federal Trade Commission
Regulating Search Engines 1.0 Part One
Regulating Search Engines 1.0 Part Two
Inventing Google? Part One
Inventing Google? Part Two
Building Google
Monetizing Google
The PageRank Algorithm Part One
The PageRank Algorithm Part Two
Two-Sided Markets Part One
Two-Sided Markets Part Two
Auctions and Monopoly Power
Google Evolves
Competition and Google
The European Competition Investigation of Google
The FTC and Google Part One
The FTC and Google Part Two
Back to Europe
Shopping on Google
Google Shopping: A New Data Model
15 April 2015: The EU Statement of Objections
15 April 2015: Google's Response
Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?
Video Chat, Friday, 31 July 2015
Top Readings
Slides for Module
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra Depth Readings
Updates and Corrections
Sources and Copyright Statement
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Graded Quiz

Smartphones
Module Overview
Controlling the Spectrum
Finding More Spectrum
The Smartphone Platform Shifts
Standard Setting Externalities Part One
Standard Setting Externalities Part Two
Winner-Take-All Markets I Part One
Winner-Take-All Markets I Part Two
Winner-Take-All Markets II
Patent Royalty Stacking
Defining Standards
Standard Essential Patents
SSOs and Market Power
Standard Setting v. Cartelization
The Other FTC Action against Google Part One
The Other FTC Action against Google Part Two
The IEEE Updates its Patent Policy
The iOS Platform
Apple v Samsung
The Android Platform
The EU Investigation of Android
Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?
Top Readings
Slides for Module
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Updates and Corrections (Last Update: 11 July 2015)
Sources and Copyright Statement
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Graded Quiz

Nondiscrimination and Neutrality
Module Overview
The Post Office: A National Communications System
The Post Office: Cross-Subsidization and Cream Skimming
The Postal Act of 1845 Part One
The Postal Act of 1845 Part Two
The Commerce Act of 1887
Classifying Cable ISPs
Cable ISP Classification in the Supreme Court
What Counts as an Offer?
Delivering Pizza
An Open Internet?
What Can You Do with Your Internet Connection?
Poster Child No. 2
Why Did Comcast Do This?
Fast Forward: 2010-2014 Part One
Fast Forward: 2010-2014 Part Two
Fast Forward: 2010-2014 Part Three
2015 FCC Open Internet Order Part One
2015 FCC Open Internet Order Part Two
Framing Net Neutrality Part One
Framing Net Neutrality Part Two
Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?
Top Readings
Slides for Module
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Updates and Corrections
Sources and Copyright Statement
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Graded Quiz

The Day the Music Died?
Module Overview
The Great Unlocking (and Relocking?) Part One
The Great Unlocking (and Relocking?) Part Two
Making Music Circa 1871
A Tech Revolution in Music
What is a Copy?
Control at a Distance
A Little Radio History
Performing Music on the Radio
The Blanket License
The Next Big Music Platform (in 1990): Digital Audio Tape
The MP3 Player Arrives (and it isn't an iPod)
The Internet: A Perfect Copying and Distribution Machine?
The Internet Routes Around: Grokster
Locking the Music: The DMCA and Sony BMG DRM
The Day the (Physical) Music Died
DRM and iTunes: Steve Jobs on Music Part One
DRM and iTunes: Steve Jobs on Music Part Two
Our Subscription Future? Part One
Our Subscription Future? Part Two
Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?
Top Readings
Slides for Module
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Updates and Corrections
Sources and Copyright Statement
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Graded Quiz

Video: Listening and Watching
Module Overview
Television?
The Checkerboard in the Sky
Sharing Signals (CATV)
(Copyright) Regulating Cable TV
The Betamax and the Boston Strangler Part One
The Betamax and the Boston Strangler Part Two
The Betamax Case in the U.S. Supreme Court
Secondary Liability for Sony?
Substantial Noninfringing Uses of the VCR
The Dissenting Opinion Part One
The Dissenting Opinion Part Two
Building the DVD Platform Part One
Building the DVD Platform Part Two
DTV: Bringing 0s and 1s to Television
Netflix and the First-Sale Doctrine
Aereo: An Exercise in Triangulation Part One
Aereo: An Exercise in Triangulation Part Two
Aereo: An Exercise in Triangulation Part Three
Ending TV Broadcasting?: Incentive Spectrum Auctions
Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?
Top Readings
Slides for Module
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Updates and Corrections
Sources and Copyright Statement
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Graded Quiz

The Mediated Book
Module Overview
Google Launches the Digital Library
Google's Usage Guidelines
Google Gets Sued
A Settlement?
Google Books and Fair Use
The HathiTrust Digital Library
The HathiTrust Lawsuit
Google Books on Appeal: Briefs
The Kindle Launches
The Kindle as Service
Advertising-Supported Books?
Apple Gets Sued: eBooks and the iPad
Dinner in New York
Apple Enters the eBook Market
Reading E-Mails (and Draft Agreements) Part One
Reading E-Mails (and Draft Agreements) Part Two
What Did Apple Do Wrong?
How Do You Break the Antitrust Law with a 0% Market Share? (Or: What about Amazon?)
Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?
Top Readings
Slides for Module
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Lesson Overview
Extra-Depth Readings
Updates and Corrections (Last Update: 11 July 2015)
Sources and Copyright Statement
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Brief Practice Quiz
Graded Quiz

Course Review
Course Review: Microsoft: The Desktop v. The Internet
Course Review: Google Emerges (and the World Responds)
Course Review: Smartphones
Course Review: Nondiscrimination and Neutrality
Course Review: The Day the Music Died?
Course Review: Video: Listening and Watching
Course Review: The Mediated Book
Slides for Module
Updates and Corrections
The End of the Course!
Final Exam

Internet Giants: Experimental
Key Readings
IGP1: Introducing the Internet Giants Podcast

Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Information
[TBA]

Summary of User Reviews

Discover the inner workings of Internet Giants with this comprehensive course on Coursera. Students have praised the course for its insightful lectures, engaging assignments, and knowledgeable instructors. One key aspect that many users thought was good is the course's practical approach to learning about internet giants and their impact on society.

Pros from User Reviews

Insightful lectures
Engaging assignments
Knowledgeable instructors
Practical approach to learning
In-depth coverage of internet giants

Cons from User Reviews

Some lectures can be lengthy
Course can be challenging for beginners
Limited interaction with instructors
Not enough real-world examples
Some course materials are outdated

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Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms

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