Keynote: Cory Doctorow, Science Fiction Author, Activist, and Journalist
summary
Argument that legal interoperability mandates (the US Access Act, EU Digital Markets Act) plus protected reverse engineering — called adversarial interoperability or comcom — are both required to lower engineered switching costs. Gives concrete failures and fixes: Ad Observer and Power Ventures as examples, IBM PC BIOS cloning and Phoenix, Massachusetts right-to-repair passing 80% in 2012 then stalled eight years by wireless workarounds, and a hypothetical $4 reverse-engineered dongle sold for $100 that would have restored competition. Recommends special-master oversight, procurement rules, and antitrust settlement conditions.
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chapters (12)
- 0:00Introduction and welcome
- 1:05The internet’s transformation
- 2:07Network effects vs switching costs
- 3:54Legal barriers to interoperability
- 5:40Challenges with interop mandates
- 7:45Adversarial interoperability explained
- 9:30Why big tech fears comcom
- 11:56Combining mandates and comcom
- 13:40Right to repair case study
- 15:05Legal hurdles for comcom
- 16:27Government procurement solutions
- 17:30Conclusion and call to action
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