The crisis of consent: how stronger legal protection may lead to weaker consent in data protection

An Online Consent Maturity Model

“…There is, however, a difficulty in conveying the extensive and complex information that is needed for consent to be truly informed in both Qualitative Longitudinal Research and online. In both cases, people are often enthusiastic about taking part, yet unenthusiastic about the detail of what their participation might entail [54,61] Not envisaged, access to information available as required by legal agreement.…”

“…Proposing that consent to the collection and retention of personal data be meaningful and fair has been posited as a way forward [3,60]. Building on the Fair Transaction model of consent [60], [54], argue that a strengthening of informed consent from a legal perspective could result in undermining the effectiveness of the consent mechanism itself, and thereby have a detrimental effect on trust in data processing and privacy protection. The difficulty they identify is the disconnect between legal theory, presupposing rationality, and reality, where people agree to most requests for consent without reading them [54].…”

“…Building on the Fair Transaction model of consent [60], [54], argue that a strengthening of informed consent from a legal perspective could result in undermining the effectiveness of the consent mechanism itself, and thereby have a detrimental effect on trust in data processing and privacy protection. The difficulty they identify is the disconnect between legal theory, presupposing rationality, and reality, where people agree to most requests for consent without reading them [54]. Furthermore, the strengthening of consent legalistically does not take account of the data gatherer's needs.…”

“…What appears to an individual to be a breach of their trust, is likely to be legally legitimate under the contractual terms to which they have agreed. The position that [54] argued, that strengthening informed consent from a legal perspective could weaken the consent mechanism, and thereby have a detrimental effect on trust in data processing and privacy protection, is exemplified by the issues between Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. The issue is that, in theory, information presented to a person would be read and understood, whereas the reality is that participants often consent without reading the information provided [54].…”

Privatsphäre als ethische und liberale Herausforderungen der digitalen Gesellschaft

“…Einwilligung wirkt moralisch transforma-tiv: Wem ich Zutritt zu meinem Haus gestatte, der verletzt meine Privatsphäre nicht, wer durch's Fenster einsteigt, dagegen schon. 7 Aber die Einwilligung muss bestimmten Kriterien genügen: Sie muss u. a. gut informiert, zwanglos und zweckgebunden sein. Nun zeigen Untersuchungen aber, dass es für den durchschnittlichen Menschen 244 Stunden im Jahr dauern würde, alle AGBs zu lesen.…”