H2020Индивидуална стипендия2019–2022

FreeDigital · The impact of 'free' digital offers on individual behavior and its implications for consumer and data protection laws

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2019-09-01 → 2022-12-30
Финансиране от ЕС: 281 359 €
Участници: 1
Схема: MSCA-IF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Безплатните цифрови услуги, като социалните мрежи, влияят на решенията на хората да споделят личните си данни. Резултатите помагат за подобряване на законите за защита на потребителите и преразглеждане на правилата за събиране на информация.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

The impact of 'free' digital offers on individual behavior and its implications for consumer and data protection laws

Free offers are prevalent in nowadays online markets. We can communicate with our friends through social networks, store our files in clouds, navigate the city, manage our finances or even find a life partner using online products and services without paying a single penny. This, however, does not yet mean that we give nothing in exchange. We do provide our private information that might be profitably used by suppliers of free digital content. FreeDigital looks at free digital offers and how they impact people’s behavior – their decisions about using free products and sharing their data with businesses offering free content. This project helps us understand whether there is room for improving consumers' welfare and what further measures could be implemented to achieve such an improvement. The project carries important implications for policy makers and legislators regarding data and consumer protection laws. First, it shows that using deceptive or misleading description of products and services (such as “free” when a product involves non-monetary costs) may undermine consumer trust and confidence in the market in general and not only towards the business responsible for the deceptive practices. Second, it debunks the widespread belief that paid services are better for consumers regarding privacy and contractual risks than free services. Paid services may thus require as much attention from the policymakers and enforcers as free services. Finally, policymakers may need to reconsider in which situations businesses should be required to obtain from consumers an explicit opt-in for data collection and processing.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Many online services and products are offered ‘free’ of charge but in exchange for personal data. Research shows that consumers overvalue the benefits and undervalue the non-monetary costs of zero-price products. Yet, it remains unknown whether offering ‘free’ digital content in exchange for personal data distorts consumer decisions about 1)entering into a transaction, 2)sharing personal data, and 3)enforcing contractual and data protection rights. These questions are important because digital content, even this for ‘free’, might involve certain hazards. For instance, it might be defective causing detriment to its users or consumers’ personal data might be misused. In this project, I will provide evidence on consumer reactions to digital content offered at a zero price by conducting online experiments, in which individuals will perform a real effort task and decide whether to use an application that can help them solve the task. This application will be offered in a premium and a cheaper basic version supplied in exchange for personal data. In separate treatments, I will manipulate the price of the two versions - decrease the price of the basic version from a small amount to zero and change the price of the premium version accordingly. I will observe whether reducing the price of the basic version to zero influences participants choices on which application to use and whether to provide personal data in exchange. I will further introduce a failure in the basic version and measure whether participants complain and request deletion of their personal data depending on the price of the application. Next, I will test whether interventions proposed by legal scholars (e.g., informing users that their personal data constitute counter-performance) change these decisions. Finally, based on these data I will develop arguments contributing to legal discussions in consumer and data protection law and suggest solutions that will improve consumer welfare and privacy protection.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT · MaastrichtКоординаторНидерландия