Author Archives: Laura Frederika Lalíková

Laura Frederika Lalíková

About Laura Frederika Lalíková

Laura Frederika Lalikova is a PhD-candidate at the law department of Utrecht University. As a researcher, she is affiliated with RENFORCE (Utrecht Centre for Regulation and Enforcement in Europe). In her PhD research, Laura focuses on whether and how access to digital platforms can and should be secured by using the European competition law’s Essential facilities doctrine. Alternatively, by drawing upon public utility theory, and/or private, hybrid, or self-governing practices that are emerging within the sector itself. The PhD research is conducted as part of the fulfillment of the ERC Starting Grant project 'Modern Bigness' led by Prof. mr. dr. Anna Gerbrandy. Other areas of her interest include; EU agencies, EU administrative law, EU economic and fiscal policy coordination.

DSA, DMA and ‘Access to…’

Laura Frederika Lalíková

This blogpost is part of a series of short commentaries on the European Commission’s proposals for a Digital Markets Act and a Digital Services Act, released on 15 December 2020. Stay tuned for more.

Being a fan of British comedy, I’d like to quote James Veitch (who is best known for his witty interactions with the authors of scam emails): “The Internet gave us access to everything; but it also gave everything access to us.” This struck a chord with me, as I realized that the question of access has left the tables of social sciences and legal scholars and entered the likes of comedy clubs, signifying the importance of the currency of the topic of access in digital space. People understand access. They might not understand the intricacies of it, but they understand it on a fundamental level  – the value of access and the benefits which derive from it. And we should strive to protect it.

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