America Online 2014 Annual Report Download - page 28

Competition
The Brand Group and the Membership Group compete for the time and attention of consumers, advertising
revenue and talent with a wide range of companies, including Google, Twitter, Inc., Facebook, Microsoft
Corporation’s MSN, Yahoo, IAC/Interactive Corp. (“IAC”), CBS Interactive, Inc., Comcast Corporation,
Gannett Company, Inc., and Mode Media Corporation.
AOL Platforms competes more broadly with other companies with advertising and publisher platform
offerings, including programmatic advertising offerings and video and mobile offerings; including Google,
including its YouTube subsidiary, Facebook, Yahoo, Media Math, Inc., Rocket Fuel, Inc., Pubmatic, Inc.,
Videology, Inc., TubeMogul Inc.,Turn Inc., Millennial Media, Inc., Criteo S.A, Rubicon Project, The Walt
Disney Company’s Maker Studios, Hulu, LLC, Media Mind and Undertone.
Our subscription services compete with other providers of bundled subscription services, such as cable
companies.
Internationally, our primary competitors are global enterprises such as Yahoo, Google, MSN, IAC,
Facebook and other social networking sites, as well as a large number of local enterprises.
The internet industry is dynamic and rapidly evolving. New and popular competitors frequently emerge,
including social networking sites, providers of communications tools and providers of advertising products and
services. We also compete with the companies listed above for talent in technology skills and content creation,
among other areas.
Government Regulation and Other Regulatory Matters
Our business is subject to various federal and state laws and regulations, particularly in the areas of
intellectual property, privacy, data security and consumer protection.
Our marketing and billing activities are subject to regulation by the Federal Trade Commission and each of
the states and the District of Columbia under both general consumer protection laws and regulations prohibiting
unfair or deceptive acts or practices as well as various laws and regulations mandating disclosures,
authorizations, opt-out procedures and record-keeping for particular sorts of marketing and billing transactions.
These laws and regulations include, for example, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, federal and state “Do Not Call”
statutes, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and Regulation E. Moreover, our ability to bill under certain payment
methods is subject to commercial agreements including, for example, the Credit Card Association rules and
agreements between our payment aggregator and telephone carriers.
We regularly receive and resolve inquiries relating to marketing and billing issues from state Attorney
Generals, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission and, over the course of
more than 20 years of operations, we have entered into several Consent Orders, Assurances of Voluntary
Compliance/Discontinuance and settlements pursuant to which we have implemented a series of consumer
protection safeguards. Examples include the prohibition of consumer retention-related compensation to call
center personnel based either on non-third-party verified retention transactions or minimum retention thresholds;
implementing tools that mandate adherence to various consumer protection procedural safeguards around
marketing, sales, registration, cancellation, retention and reactivation transactions; recording and retaining
particular call types; enabling and requiring full customer support for disabled consumers; and implementing
regular training programs and monitoring mechanisms to ensure compliance with these obligations.
In the United States, internet access services are generally classified as “information services” and, since
open internet rules promulgated in 2010 have been struck down by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, are not
subject to regulation by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”). The FCC has voted to reclassify
internet access services as “telecommunications services” under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, which
will subject internet service providers (“ISPs”) to regulation that may restrict such providers from blocking or
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