The Monopoly Report

Alan Butler from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) joins Alan Chapell to discuss EPICs recent blog post critiquing the March 2025 decision of the French competition authority holding that Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) is anti-competitive. This is a robust discussion pitting the views of the advocacy community against those of the business community... and demonstrating the...

Cory Doctorow is a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction. His latest book is Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Went Wrong and What To Do About It. Cory and host Alan Chapell discuss the three stages of enshittification, its root causes, and the underlying social movement that is critical to addressing (and perhaps even reversing) its impact. Recognizing that they come at this fro...

The care and feeding of a successful career - particularly in privacy or regulatory circles remains an under-discussed topic. Career coach Doug Miller joins Alan to discuss the changing role of the privacy pro over the past two decades and the challenges we all face as we try to juggle the goals of making an impact while finding happiness.  Takeaways Privacy executives must engage with the organiz...

On this episode, Alan Chapell is joined by Connecticut State Senator James Maroney as the Senator shares the backstory regarding how he got involved in pushing for a privacy law in Connecticut, how those efforts are impacted by lobbying efforts, and how different states are collaborating to create the privacy and AI patchwork. The Senator also shares what's on his mind when it comes to future priv...

Journalist Patrick McGee joins host Alan Chapell to discuss his book "Apple in China" as Alan draws additional pearls of wisdom from Patrick's work that can be used to guide everyone working in the digital media and regulatory world. From an in-depth discussion of geopolitics, a funny Seinfeld reference and (and a less funny one about Michael Moore) and important lessons for regulatory folks looki...

Alan Chapell continues his discussion with Jon Leibowitz on some of the key regulatory issues raised from 2004 - 2013. This includes the investigation re: Google Buzz and Google's settlement of FTC charges it Misrepresented Privacy Assurances to Users of Apple's Safari Internet Browser (which Alan believes had a huge impact on Google's approach to probabilistic advertising). They also talk about t...

Host Alan Chapell is joined by Jon Leibowitz, former chair of the FTC to discuss the Commission's impact on the digital media landscape from 2004 until 2013. In part 1 of the discussion, Chapell and Mr. Leibowitz talk about the FTC's COPPA rethink, the DNT standard, some early FTC attempts to rethink journalism, and some of the antitrust and privacy enforcements against big tech during his tenure....

UK data protection pro Robert Bateman joins host Alan Chapell to discuss how the EU seems to be heading in the opposite direction than the U.S. as the CJEU narrows the definition of personal data ever so slightly. Robert also shares thoughts on a cookie consent consult taking place in the UK - and gives a prediction on the future of EU to U.S. cross-border transfers.  Takeaways The definition of p...

This week, Tobias Judin from Norway's data protection regulator, the Datatilsynet (and EDPB representative), joins host Alan Chapell to talk about trust, (mis)aligned incentives, and consent in the European ads marketplace. We go deep on the challenges around pay or consent models for digital media as the EDPB plans to issue guidance for the larger publishing industry. Will pay or consent save the...

This week, host Alan Chapell is joined by Daniel Hanley of the Open Markets Institute as they attempt to make legal sense of Judge Mehta's September 2, 2025, decision in the Google Search Antitrust case. In other words, they outline "WHY" the Google decision is legally problematic.    Takeaways Judge Mehta’s remedies ruling left major loopholes for Google. Judicial caution and AI narratives dilute...

Cobun Zweifel-Keegan joins host Alan Chapell to discuss key themes around U.S. state efforts to enforce on privacy AI and consumer protection. We talk about regulatory tension between the federal and state governments, the key areas of focus at the state level and the impact of state enforcement. We also riff a bit on Alan's recent Substack article comparing Spotify's Panama Playlists with the 198...

Alan Chapell is joined by Justin Evan's where they discuss his book: The Little Book of Data. While designed for business teams, the book (and the podcast) also lights a path that can be helpful to the legal and regulatory folks. Our conversation also makes broader points about the creative process and how to stay relevant in your career by remaining curious.  Check out the Little Book of Data at ...

In this episode, Alan is joined by Shoshana Wodinsky, veteran journalist in the ads space turned tech expert for the Federal Trade Commission. Shoshana offers an unfiltered view of how things sometimes function at the Commission - and shares some insights on how recent FTC policies impact the ads space. Takeaways The U.S. lacks a national privacy law, relying on state laws. The FTC has historicall...

In this episode, Alan discusses Contextual Integrity as applied to the ad space with Professor Helen Nissenbaum. They go deep into profiling and the use of PETs. Alan encourages listeners to check out some of Helen's writing at https://nissenbaum.tech.cornell.edu/main_cv.html#pub Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kamyl Bazbaz and Joseph Jerome from DuckDuckGo join Alan to discuss the role of the browser, the intersection between privacy and competition and how DuckDuckGo differentiates itself within the craziness of larger ads space.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ari Paparo and Alan Chapell discuss Ari's new book Yield: How Google Bought, Built, and Bullied its Way to Advertising Dominance. They also talk about the potential impact of the fallout of Google's antitrust trials on the marketplace. And Ari provides some insights as to why it's difficult for privacy and regulatory issues to make their way into the C-suite. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

Megan Gray joins host Alan Chapell for a discussion of the various remedies being proposed in the Google Search Antitrust Trial with the DOJ as we head towards Judge Mehta's decision in that case later this summer.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Meta antitrust trial has been undercovered with in the ads space. Host Alan Chapell brings antitrust litigator Brendan Benedict on to get a sense of the core arguments of both the FTC and Meta and make some predictions on how this case will play out.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC Samuel AA Levin joins Alan Chapell to discuss a recent law review article he co-authored, how privacy and consumer protection were undercut during the 1980's, and how the Lina Kahn FTC sought to bring them back. Within the context of the digital ads space, they discussed: DNT, Industry self-regulation, notice and choice and the pro's...

Host Alan Chapell moderates a debate between Erez Levin (buy-side) and Gareth Glaser (sell-side) on how the ad tech marketplace is shifting while interjecting a few nuggets about the role of privacy and competition as we look towards 2026 and beyond.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Marty Swant (Digiday, Forbes, NY Times) joins Alan Chapell to talk about the ways an ad industry trade journalist combats spin in their search for truth. Marty also drops some thoughts on key trends in the ads space that are not getting nearly enough attention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In part two of this two part interview, host Alan Chapell and Jonathan Kanter go deep on the Google ad tech antitrust trial remedies phase.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Kanter joins host Alan Chapell to discuss the changes to antitrust enforcement over the past five years and how those changes were reflected in the DOJ's enforcement against Google in the search antitrust trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Alan Chapell chats with Gary Kibel of the law firm Davis & Gilbert about children's privacy in the ads space. We start back in 1998 with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and share how the FTC has revamped COPPA via rulemaking over the years. We also discuss state level privacy laws' approach to children's advertising, KOSA and the likelihood of the U.S. Congres...

Alan Chapell and Dennis Buchheim talk about the future of addressability and how to create ad standards which are both principled and fair. We also question the value of legacy tech in the ads space.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices