- Surveillance, consent and the vulnerable consumer. Regaining citizen agency in the information economy
- Personalised pricing and personalised commercial practices
- A universal service framework for powerful online platforms
The first and most extensive part has a foundational nature and considers the key premises of consumer protection in view of structural asymmetries observed in digital consumer markets. Attention is paid, among others, to the concepts of digital vulnerability and consent. Following existing research, the authors remark that consumer vulnerability should not be reduced to internal characteristics, but can also be caused by external conditions, and that data-driven practices that promote exploitation of vulnerabilities can be linked to the lack of privacy. At the same time, privacy controls placed at consumers' disposal are often not effective and can lead to a false sense of security. The most ground-breaking conclusions and recommendations, however, follow from the subsequent analysis of what is described as "digital asymmetry". According to the authors, instead of focusing on the information aspect of the UCPD and the different consumer images, more weight should be attached to the structural power relations, including the power embedded in digital choice architectures controlled by online platforms. On this basis, a case is made for reversing the burden of proof in the UCPD so that effectivelly "unfairness of data exploitation strategies is presumed" (p. 77).
The second part of the study part looks more specifically at personalised pricing and advertising and the third part explores how obligations traditionally associated with services of general interest (SGI) could be applied to the platforms considered to hold a gatekeeper position.
We encourage our readers to consult this thought-provoking study, the full text of which can be found here.
