While the FTC hasn’t officially launched an antitrust investigation against Microsoft, the tech company claims the regulatory body has already committed ethical violations in relation to the potential action.
Microsoft deputy general counsel Rima Alaily is claiming that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had violated ethics imposed by the agency’s own standards when it “leaked” the potential antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s cloud licensing behavior.
Unironically, Alaily penned a letter n LinkedIn to Andrew Katsaros, the FTC inspector general asking that agency investigate itself regarding the leaked information about a potential investigation in Microsoft over the way it handles customer ‘lock in’ with Azure licensing and product services among other violations.
Microsoft has no insight into how the FTC is handling the ramp up to an investigation but the mere fact that information is out in the world and the company has yet to receive any official notice is where Alaily is claiming the corporate watch dog has violated its own ethics commitments.
I ask you to investigate whether FTC management improperly leaked this confidential information to the press in violation of the agency’s ethics rules and rules of practice. Ironically, almost a week after telling the press about an information demand issued to Microsoft, we still cannot even obtain from the FTC a copy of this document.
Alaily also notes that this isn’t the first time the FTC has had information regarding potential investigations into leaks like this. In fact, Alaily says it’s an “unfortunate trend” of “strategically leaks” the agency has invoked over the past few years, perhaps as a way to gauge or endear public opinion on those matters.
As for the FTC’s response, Katsaros has already inadvertently confirmed Alaily’s claims about the trend of leaked info flowing from the agency with his own previous condemnation of the “steadily increasing” amount of unauthorized information winding up in the hands of the media due to “sources within the FTC.”
Whether or not the FTC takes Alaily’s suggestion to heart and comports to her demands of making whatever findings public is probably slim to none at this point. However, if the FTC does formally announce an antitrust investigation into Microsoft, Alaily has highlighted an ethical and strategic quandary with how the agency preempts its investigations under chair Lina Khan.
It’s one thing to announce several antitrust investigations to curry favor from the public, it’s another thing to lose those cases due to incompetence or unethical means.
[…] let’s not forget the cherry on top: Microsoft’s ongoing antitrust investigation by Lina Khan’s FTC. The Federal Trade Commission is scrutinizing Microsoft’s bundling practices with its Azure […]