"Security vs. Interoperability" Arguments: An Analytical Framework

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Landis, Daji, Bietti, Elettra, Park, Sunoo
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866915984132014080
author Landis, Daji
Bietti, Elettra
Park, Sunoo
author_facet Landis, Daji
Bietti, Elettra
Park, Sunoo
contents Concerns about big tech's monopoly power have featured prominently in recent media and policy discourse, as regulators across the European Union (EU), the United States (US) and beyond have ramped up efforts to promote healthier market competition. One favored approach is to require certain kinds of interoperation between platforms, to mitigate the current concentration of power in the biggest companies. Unsurprisingly, interoperability initiatives have generally been met with resistance by big tech companies. Perhaps more surprisingly, a significant part of that pushback has been in the name of security -- that is, arguing against interoperation on the basis that it will undermine security. We conduct a systematic examination of "security vs. interoperability" (SvI) discourse in the context of EU antitrust and competition proceedings. Our resulting contributions are threefold. First, we propose a taxonomy of SvI concerns in three categories: engineering, vetting, and hybrid. Second, we present an analytical framework for assessing real-world SvI concerns, and illustrate its utility by analyzing several case studies spanning our three taxonomy categories. Third, we undertake a comparative analysis that highlights key considerations around the interplay of economic incentives, market power, and security across our diverse case study contexts, identifying common patterns in each taxonomy category. Our contributions provide valuable analytical tools for experts and non-experts alike to critically assess SvI discourse in today's fast-paced regulatory landscape.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_04538
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle "Security vs. Interoperability" Arguments: An Analytical Framework
Landis, Daji
Bietti, Elettra
Park, Sunoo
Cryptography and Security
Concerns about big tech's monopoly power have featured prominently in recent media and policy discourse, as regulators across the European Union (EU), the United States (US) and beyond have ramped up efforts to promote healthier market competition. One favored approach is to require certain kinds of interoperation between platforms, to mitigate the current concentration of power in the biggest companies. Unsurprisingly, interoperability initiatives have generally been met with resistance by big tech companies. Perhaps more surprisingly, a significant part of that pushback has been in the name of security -- that is, arguing against interoperation on the basis that it will undermine security. We conduct a systematic examination of "security vs. interoperability" (SvI) discourse in the context of EU antitrust and competition proceedings. Our resulting contributions are threefold. First, we propose a taxonomy of SvI concerns in three categories: engineering, vetting, and hybrid. Second, we present an analytical framework for assessing real-world SvI concerns, and illustrate its utility by analyzing several case studies spanning our three taxonomy categories. Third, we undertake a comparative analysis that highlights key considerations around the interplay of economic incentives, market power, and security across our diverse case study contexts, identifying common patterns in each taxonomy category. Our contributions provide valuable analytical tools for experts and non-experts alike to critically assess SvI discourse in today's fast-paced regulatory landscape.
title "Security vs. Interoperability" Arguments: An Analytical Framework
topic Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.04538