Subject: M$ Monitor: Threat to E-Commerce
Audrie Krause (audrie@netaction.org)
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 22:23:52 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 22:23:52 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <2.2.16.19980412222607.225780f4@pop.igc.org> To: roundtable@cni.org From: Audrie Krause <audrie@netaction.org> Subject: M$ Monitor: Threat to E-Commerce
The Micro$oft Monitor
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Published by NetAction Issue No. 27 April 13, 1998
Repost where appropriate. Copyright and subscription info at end of message.
* * * * * * *
In This Issue:
The Microsoft Threat to Electronic Commerce
About the Micro$oft Monitor
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The Microsoft Threat to Electronic Commerce:
DoJ Won the Intuit Battle, But Microsoft Could Win the War
NetAction has just released an in-depth report that reveals how important
antitrust enforcement is to assuring vigorous competition in the emerging
online financial services marketplace.
The complete report is available on NetAction's Web site, at:
<http://www.netaction.org/msoft/finance/>.
The report describes how the Justice Department's 1995 opposition to the
proposed Microsoft-Intuit merger opened the door to industry competition
and ultimately resulted in the emergence of an open standard for electronic
banking protocols. But continued vigilance by the Justice Department is
necessary because Microsoft continues to use its financial and technological
power to establish a monopoly in online financial transactions.
Project Director Nathan Newman, who wrote the report, notes that if
Microsoft is successful, it could ultimately gain control of the economic
lifeblood of Internet commerce.
The report, "The Microsoft-Intuit Merger: The Intervention that Worked
and the Dangers Today from Microsoft's Monopoly Practices in the Online
Financial Marketplace," also examines Microsoft's more recent attempts
to monopolize Internet banking.
Newman points out in the report that people who criticize the Justice
Department for investigating Microsoft need to understand that the
government's 1995 intervention is the reason we have open competition
today in online financial transactions.
The white paper explains how the government's intervention made it possible
for new competitors to enter the online financial marketplace, and at least
gain a foothold in some of the markets that Microsoft was attempting to
monopolize. Although Microsoft had sought to control the standards of
online commerce through its merger with Intuit, the Justice Department's
opposition killed the proposed merger and forced the company to compromise
with competitors in building core open standards into the online financial
economy.
Unfortunately, Microsoft's increasing dominance of corporate computing
and Internet technology has led to a renewed monopoly threat in the
world of online financial transactions. Microsoft is inserting its
Internet servers into most online financial transactions. With its
growing control of the Internet browser market, Microsoft is not only in
a position to direct customers to its Internet sites, it can direct
consumers to the financial services from which it gets a commission.
The most serious threat is that Microsoft is building a partnership with
First Data Corporation in an effort to replace the role of banks in
processing online bills that were previously mailed to customers by credit
card companies, utilities or other merchants. The danger is that rapid,
unregulated changes in the financial world can have dire economic results,
Newman warns in the report.
NetAction's report argues that government intervention now, oriented toward
promoting open competition and economic equity, will negate the need for
much broader, more expensive intervention, in the coming years.
Contact Nathan Newman <nathan@netaction.org> or
<mailto:nathan@netaction.org> for more information.
Want to help NetAction ensure vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws
against Microsoft? Here are two ways you can help:
-- Contact the Justice Department at <antitrust@usdoj.gov> or
<mailto:antitrust@usdoj.gov> and urge officials to broaden the
investigation.
-- Download NetAction's report <http://www.netaction.org/msoft/finance/>
and send copies to your representatives in Congress with a cover letter
urging them to ensure strong enforcement of antitrust laws. (The full
report is available to be downloaded in ASCII (text only) (40k), or as a
single file (42k).)
Additional information about NetAction's Consumer Choice Campaign,
including an earlier white paper, is on the NetAction web site at:
<http://www.netaction.org>.
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About The Micro$oft Monitor
The Micro$oft Monitor is a free electronic newsletter, published as part of
the Consumer Choice Campaign <http://www.netaction.org/msoft/ccc.html>.
NetAction is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to educating the
public, policy makers, and the media about technology-based social and
political issues, and to teaching activists how to use the Internet for
organizing, outreach, and advocacy.
To subscribe to The Micro$oft Monitor, write to: <majordomo@netaction.org>.
The body of the message should state: <subscribe monitor>. To unsubscribe
at any time, send a message to: <majordomo@netaction.org>. The body of the
message should state: <unsubscribe monitor>
NetAction is seeking sponsors to provide financial support for the continued
publication of the Micro$oft Monitor. Sponsors will be acknowledged in the
newsletter and on NetAction's Web site. NetAction is supported by
individual contributions, membership dues and grants.
For more information about contributing to NetAction, or sponsoring the
Micro$oft Monitor, contact Audrie Krause by phone: (415) 775-8674, by
E-mail: <mailto:audrie@netaction.org>, visit the NetAction Web site at:
<http://www.netaction.org>, or write to:
NetAction * 601 Van Ness Ave., No. 631 * San Francisco, CA 94102
To learn more about how activists can use the Internet for grassroots
organizing, outreach, and advocacy, subscribe to NetAction Notes, a free
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Copyright 1998 by NetAction/The Tides Center. All rights reserved.
Material may be reposted or reproduced for non-commercial use provided
NetAction is cited as the source. NetAction is a project of The Tides
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