Author(s)

Lydia Montalbano

CRH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

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.

Consumer Law, Digital Market, AI, IoT, Privacy, Data Protection, GDPR

Montalbano, L. (2021) Transparency in a Digitally Intertwined World: A Hybrid Approach to Consumers’ Protection. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 9, 448-485. doi: 10.4236/jss.2021.98031.