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NetCoalition files complaint over NYSE data fee hikes

Public-policy group says sites are starting to halt real-time stock data displays because of new pricing regulations.

Caroline McCarthy Former Staff writer, CNET News
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos.
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NetCoalition, a technology advocacy group, plans to file a petition to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding fees charged by stock exchanges to provide real-time market data.

The Washington-based public-policy coalition, whose trustees include Bloomberg, Google, Yahoo and News.com publisher CNET Networks, has voiced opposition to recent fee increases that the SEC has authorized for the New York Stock Exchange's Archipelago electronic market.

According to NetCoalition, the October 12 change has meant that many news and finance Web sites no longer provide real-time market information, in the form of the NYSE's ArcaBook data product, on their Web sites.

Representatives from the stock exchange and the SEC did not respond to calls for comment.

NetCoalition General Counsel Markham Erickson explained that because the ArcaBook decision was approved by SEC staff rather than commissioners, it was possible for the advocacy group to voice their opposition through a petition. NetCoalition filed notice on November 6 that it planned to file such a petition.

Erickson said that Tuesday's filing questions the rationale of the SEC in approving the fee increases and "lays out the legal reasoning, political justification and factual analysis of why the NetCoalition thinks the commission should set aside this staff-approved product."