Too much attention?

Much of the antitrust discourse nowadays is about personal data and the implications of concentrated digital markets for our privacy.  But, in focussing on data, have we been missing the wood for the trees?  Are we in fact trading our scarce and precious attention for many of the supposedly free services we enjoy online?

In this episode our guest, Associate Professor John Newman from the University of Miami, discusses his research on attention markets, why he thinks there are substantial individual and societal costs associated with concentration in these markets and the role for antitrust and regulation in responding to this under-explored problem.

The episode was recorded in person at the Melbourne Law School during John’s visit to deliver a keynote on the topic Attention Scarcity, Technology and Law at the Digital Citizens Conference on 24-26 July.

You can find John’s academic writing on this and related topics here and you might also dip into his blog. 

Featuring regular cut-through interviews with leading thinkers, movers and shakers, Competition Lore is a podcast series that engages us all in a debate about the transformative potential and risks of digitalised competition.

Join Caron Beaton-Wells, Professor in Competition Law at the University of Melbourne, to tackle what it means to participate as a competitor, consumer or citizen in a digital economy and society.

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