Do we know what rights we have when dealing with a digital service? What skills does using one safely actually require? And is regulation keeping pace with how quickly the digital environment around us is changing?
For many of us, digital services have become the default option. That convenience comes with an imbalance: the provider holds the data, the algorithm and the design of the interface, while the consumer is left with little more than their knowledge, awareness and digital competence. The European Union keeps responding with new regulations, but legislation alone is not enough to ensure consumer safety.
In our new monograph, Consumer Behavior and Digital Services: Competence, Rights and Protection, written together with Dr Monika Eisenbardt and Dr Tomasz Eisenbardt, we examine the conditions shaping the development of e-services in the European Union. We bring together technological, legal, ethical and regulatory perspectives, with particular attention to user security. We ask what strengthens the consumer’s position in the digital environment, and what undermines it.