TITLE:
Transparency in a Digitally Intertwined World: A Hybrid Approach to Consumers’ Protection
AUTHORS:
Lydia Montalbano
KEYWORDS:
Consumer Law, Digital Market, AI, IoT, Privacy, Data Protection, GDPR
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.9 No.8,
August
31,
2021
ABSTRACT: Digital advancement is moving at an unprecedented
rate as compared to any other time in history. These improvements have effects
on economies and societies altering the normal ways people interact and do
business online. The process results in the accumulation and possible exposure
of user data. The transformation has affected the policies in consumer and data
protection law in place, but there is still a lot to gain on the enforcement
side in the marketplace. Personal data are a new currency that drives the
modern world, playing a central role in the
current technological revolution. Consumer behavior patterns are now
more predictable due to online ordering and data from IoT devices. Analysis of
this collected data has resulted in ever more detailed profiles about individuals,
which translates in greatly increasing conversion. This incentivizes software
developers to equip their products and services with more and more advanced
algorithms that can act on insights-based personal profiles. Usage of these
algorithms can significantly influence consumer markets by altering purchasing
trends. While it is evident that for example in Europe, today, consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the right to protect personal data, the impact of factors such as
secret tracking, psychological profiling, can have consequences that
many consumers can’t grasp. Moreover, prevalent
market trends are thriving on data, but the process can create structural discrimination between consumers based on
arbitrary assumptions. European empires during the 16th-century expanded
their control by managing critical assets. However, presently, new
technological empires are created by controlling the world’s data and deploying
advanced AI’s which should be regulated. To establish a common, global
framework of understanding, part of this study shall consider the consumer
perception concerning tracking and surveillance. The socio-economic impact on
society due to the so-called “filter bubble” created by these algorithms is subsequently be
discussed together with the political and social destabilization that we are
witnessing. This paper outlines how consumer laws relating to data protection,
especially in Europe, are operationalized and
what consumer protection is available within the digital markets. The
paper concludes with the steps to systematically protect the fundamental right
to privacy in the digital markets. This entails a hybrid approach that includes
transparency by design and default, improved enforcement by authorities, and the possibility for consumers to proceed through
class actions in order to safeguard their privacy in the existing legal
framework.