New Working Paper “Beyond Informed Consent: Consumer Data Preferences and the Case for Enforcement-Oriented Transparency” (No. 41) released

Beyond Informed Consent: Consumer Data Preferences and the Case for Enforcement-Oriented Transparency

by Prof. Dr. Maximilian Becker & Catalina Goanta (University Siegen, SFB)

 

How are digitalization and artificial intelligence changing the structures of private law? In this working paper, Maximilian Becker examines the legal challenges posed by digital technologies from the perspective of civil law. The paper analyzes how data-driven systems, algorithmic decision-making processes, and new digital business models are influencing existing structures of private law and explores the extent to which current law can meet the demands of the digital transformation.

 

→ Link Working Paper

 

About the Working Paper

Digital markets have fundamentally altered the conditions under which consumers engage with data-driven platforms, yet regulatory frameworks, particularly in the EU, continue to rely on consent-based models that presuppose a level of technological literacy and informed agency that most users do not possess. Drawing on existing empirical evidence from five studies across the US, UK, and EU, this paper departs from the empirical argument that consumer preferences regarding personal data are highly unstable and shaped by framing and trust rather than genuine, well-formed values.

Consumers systematically overestimate the privacy protections offered by paid services, accept personalization without understanding its commercial scope, and disregard privacy notices regardless of their clarity. This argument exposes the structural failure of transparency-as-disclosure as a regulatory strategy: informing consumers better does not fix markets distorted by asymmetric information and complex, layered business models.

Rather than doubling down on consumer-facing transparency obligations, this paper proposes a shift toward enforcement-oriented business-model transparency, under which platforms would be required to disclose aspects such as data flows, monetization strategies, but also algorithmic processes to regulatory authorities and civil society. The Digital Services Act and the General Data Protection Regulation already point somewhat in this direction. Building on this logic, the paper proposes further machine-readable transparency as a complement to existing information obligations.

 

About the Authors

Prof. Dr. Maximilian Becker is a professor of civil law, intellectual property law, and media law at the University of Siegen. His research focuses on civil law with connections to medical law, data law, and information technology law, as well as on IT law, media law, and competition law. He studied German and European business law at the University of Siegen and earned his doctorate there in 2012 with a dissertation on “Absurd Contracts.” After serving as an assistant professor at the University of Siegen and as a professor of data protection law and IT law at Leibniz University Hannover, he has been a professor at the University of Siegen since 2021. In addition, he is a subproject leader for the project A07 – ‘The Personal Data Industry’ at SFB 1187 Media of Cooperation (University of Siegen). 

Catalina Goanta is an Associate Professor in Private Law and Technology and Principal Investigator of the ERC Starting Grant HUMANads, focused on understanding the impact of content monetization on social media and on reinterpreting private law fairness in the context of platform governance. Between 2016-2021 she was Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at Maastricht University, and during  February 2018 – February 2019, she was a Niels Stensen fellow and visited the University of St. Gallen (The Institute of Work and Employment) and Harvard University (The Berkman Center for Internet and Society).  She has been a mercator fellow at the SFB since 2025.

 

About the Working Paper Series

The Working Paper Series of SFB 1187 “Media of Cooperation” brings together current contributions from the field of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary media research. The SFB Working Paper Series offers the opportunity for pre-publication and rapid dissemination of research work currently being carried out at the SFB or related to it. The aim of the series is to make SFB research accessible to a broader research community. Publication in the Working Paper Series does not preclude the publication of revised versions of the same contribution in other journals. Contributions from postdocs and established researchers are welcome. The series is intended as a publication forum for the researchers represented in the SFB, their projects, and their ongoing research. Contributions are published in open access and in a limited print edition. If you would like to publish an article in the Working Paper Series, please submit your topic proposal in the form of an abstract (max. 300 words) together with a short CV (max. 50 words). For manuscript submission, please refer to our styleguide.

Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) – Project number 262513311 – SFB 1187. Editorial responsibility: Karina Kirsten, University of Siegen & SFB 1187 Media of Cooperation.