Virtual Competition: The Promise and Perils of the Algorithm-Driven Economy

Virtual Competition: The Promise and Perils of the Algorithm-Driven Economy by Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice E. Stucke

Virtual competition was written by two legal scholars. The book is copiously annotated, but very repetitive. It describes what it will describe multiple times. The book is ideal for "speed-read" skimming, with detailed reading only for some of the key details and examples.

The book looks at how computer algorithms can help stifle competition, all while being outside the range of enforcement. Traditional collusion scenarios like messenger and hub and spoke can be amplified via algorithm. Others, like predictable agents and Digital Eye are enabled by algorithm, yet outside the typical law. While "full knowledge" may seem to be beneficial for competition, it also serves to enable more abuses. Competitors can understand what the competition is doing and use that to raise prices with minimal fear of negative impact. (An example is given of gas stations on Martha's Vineyard.)

A section of the book discusses behavior discrimination. Computers can do a great job of finding an "optimal" price. Different people may be willing to pay different amounts for the same item. A computer can use this to charge people different prices to optimize profit. Alas, options can be limited. Customers are used to paying a different price for airline tickets based on time and when the ticket was booked. However, they would be much more reluctant to pay a different price for a physical good than the person standing next to them. 

The final section talks of "frenemies" and the mega-platforms. Here the discussions shifts into privacy concerns. Huge amounts of data are collected in order to better market. The platforms, like Google, Facebook and Apple are keen to protect their interests. Many are in the advertising business, and thus are reluctant to do things that would hurt that. The platforms are also often competing with companies that they are working with. Uber depends on maps and app platforms from Apple and Google, yet Apple and Google also have autonomous car initiatives that could hurt Uber. There are various challenges in the relationships.

Regulation of privacy and mega-platforms is a challenge. The current tools do not work well, and had not been extensively used against big tech as the book was written. Things have changed in the last 8 years, with the government taking a much more aggressive in countering big-tech. There have been objections from both sides of the aisle in tech's dominance. Concerns about free-speech, privacy and dominance have all been voiced.  The platforms have become so big that competition is extremely difficult. Will government or the invisible hand do the best job of managing algorithms?

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women

Why is the United States so obsessed with monetary justice through the legal system? This book details women that have had their health fall apart due to working with radium. They would put a brush in their mouth to point the bristles of the brush so that they could paint the small details on watches with a glowing radium paint. Unfortunately, this radium was found to be harmful and many had their bones crumple before they died an early death.

The book tries to portray a picture of the girls as they lived their lives. However, much of it is supposition. It is hard to piece together the lives of lower-class women from a century ago. It ends up focussing a lot on the quest for recompense from the companies via the legal system.

Is the legal system the solution or the problem? If there were not such potential for significant damage would companies be more willing to admit the problems and dangers and move on for the betterment of all. Instead a lot of work is spent trying to avoid guilt by various technicalities or outright subterfuge.

At the time, Radium was seen as a miracle substance. It was supposed to cure many maladies. However, the literature was mostly self-serving, with research by those that expected to benefit. Are there more substances like that today? How much harm will occur due to unknown dangers? How can we better handle harms that occur in the future? The current legal framework only works if there is still a deep pocket available. This does not necessarily relate to real damage that occurs.

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer

Theodore Boone has two lawyer parents and he can't wait to be a lawyer himself. He knows everyone at the local courthouse and can't wait for an excuse to visit. Asthma prevents him from athletics, but he excels in academics and the study of law. Everyone at school knows he is the legal guru and comes to him for advice. His advice has done everything from helping a classmate's family to save their home to helping a cute girl get her dog back. However, what he is really interested in is the murder trial in town. He secures good seats for his class on the first day, but wishes he could spend more time there on other days. Eventually, he is able to play an active role in seeing that justice is served in the case.
The books is foremost a youth courtroom drama. There is not a whole lot of character development and the characters are not very believable. (The protagonist seems to be more one-dimension-ally obsessed with the law than any real 8th grader.) They are vehicles to advance the plot, with just enough backstory to keep the story going - and the story does go quick. This is a book that can be read in one sitting. I didn't want to stop, but after it was done, but would probably not go back and read it again.

Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don’t Know What You’re Eating and What You Can Do about It

The United States is all for intellectual property - as long as it benefits its businesses. When US businesses benefit significantly from flouting IP, the US is more than willing to ignore other countries' rights. Thus is the state of "fake food" in the US. In Europe names are used to identify food and wine from specific regions that adhere to strict standards. The names are protected to ensure customers are getting what was promised. In the US, these same terms could be slapped on anything. Champagne is a bubbly wine from the eponymous region in France. "Parmesan" is the Anglicization of the name of the cheese made in Parma. Each of these was well known for its excellence. In Europe or many other places in the world, the name is a guarantee of a certain product. In the US, it means just about nothing. A product called "Parmesan" cheese is likely a cheese. But, those green cans barely even make it that far. The wedges at least are a hard cheese - but not up to bar with the real thing. An argument could be made that these names help people identify things similar to what they were seeking. However, by that view, a Russian software house could call something "Microsoft Office" because it is an office productivity suite. The US would have nothing to do with that, but they let food get away with it.
In addition to the intellectual property violations, we also have food faked through more nefarious means. Much of the fish we eat is "faked". In processed fish, cheaper fish is frequently substituted for more expensive fish. (In Seattle, only 18% of fish was found to be different than what it claimed to be - making it the most "accurate" fish city in the US.) Things are especially bad with expensive fish like Red Snapper, which is almost always fake. The US will often ban products from certain countries (such as China.) However, those countries will export them to other countries where they will then be exported legally to the US.
Labeling of food can also be an exercise in trickery. 100% may mean 100% of a specific ingredient, not that the product contains only that ingredient. Packaging can predominantly display secondary ingredients. ("Blueberry Pomegranate Juice" may be primarily apple juice.) Many names like "natural" have no official meaning. Even those with meanings may be different than what we expect them to mean. We really have to research what the real stuff is in order to find things that are not fake. And then, we need to hope that the labeling is in fact accurate. (Even if it isn't, the USDA and FDA are often in no hurry to enforce.) If something is a great deal, it is more than likely to be fake. (Even something as simple as honey may be doctored with additional sweeteners.) Even expensive products can be knockoffs. However, the real stuff is generally pricey - though it also tastes better and is better for you and the environment, making it worth the effort.

The trial

In the trial, Josef K. is arrested, but given no information about what is crime is, or how he should be defended. It is all a very Kafka-eque scenario. (And that is very fitting, since it is written by Kafka.)

The accused wakes up one day to find a couple guards in his house. They tell him he is arrested, and proceed to eat is breakfast. They can't tell him why he is arrested (as they are only guards). They restrict some of his basic activities. However, he is allowed to go on to work and later continue with the rest of his life.

Everybody seems to know about his trial, but to him it is bizarre. The court is nothing like the legal system he knows. It all takes place in a slum neighborhood, and nobody seems to be able to tell him why he is there.

In spite of this being some odd situation that is totally foreign to him, most of his friends and acquaintances seem to know about the trial and feel it is a bad thing for him.

As in Kafka's Metamorphosis, things are absurd, yet normal at the same time. The crime, trial and bizarre court system seem to be way outside the realm of normalcy, yet they are accepted by those around. People who work for the "strange" court system do so even though they have to put up with strange things. However, they don't see any other way.

Other strange events and coincidences seem to happen on the way. Taken on their own, each event could be seen as slightly unusually but still possible in a normal world. Taken together, it is all absurd.

The Trial was never finished in Kafka's lifetime. He had requested that it be burned, but his friend, and later teams of scholars worked to publish and "restore" it. Alas, the approach shows. Some sections seem to be thrown in there without really helping the story. (There are also sections dumped off at the end in an appendix.) While the story is good, don't scholars have better things to do than fabricate a story from something that the author didn't see worthy?