Introduction
In a digital economy, there has been an increasing amount of
scrutiny regarding technology's impact on consumers and
competition. One key question is whether privacy should be
considered a dimension of competition? That is to say, is privacy
relevant to the analysis of competitive effects?
Competition law incorporates many non-price dimensions of
competition, including innovation, quality, variety, service and
advertising. One significant type of non-price effect involving
data is privacy. Firms may compete to offer better privacy terms to
customers over their competitors. However, consumers have vastly
different ideas about how or when they want their data to be used.
Some find targeted or behavioural advertising invasive, while
others appreciate more relevant ads and receive free products or
services in exchange for targeted ads.
