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A Human-Centric Perspective on Digital Consenting: The Case of GAFAM

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Human Centred Intelligent Systems

Part of the book series: Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies ((SIST,volume 189))

Abstract

According to different legal frameworks such as the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an end-user’s consent constitutes one of the well-known legal bases for personal data processing. However, research has indicated that the majority of end-users have difficulty making sense of what they are consenting to in the digital world. Moreover, it was demonstrated that marginalized people are confronted with even more difficulties dealing with their own digital privacy. In this paper, using an enactivist perspective in cognitive science, we develop a basic human-centric framework regarding digital consent. We argue the action of consenting is a sociocognitive action and includes cognitive, collective, and contextual aspects. Based on this theoretical framework, we present our qualitative evaluation of the practice of gaining consent conducted by the five big tech companies, i.e. Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft (GAFAM). The evaluation shows that these companies are lacking in their efforts to empower end-users by considering the human-centric aspects of the action of consenting. We use this approach to argue that the consent gaining mechanisms violate principles of fairness, accountability and transparency and suggest that our approach might even raise doubts regarding the lawfulness of the acquired consent–particularly considering the basic requirements of lawful consent within the legal framework of the GDPR.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    To ensure the webpage was specifically designed to be compliant with the GDPR, we chose the local top-level domain of Austria where applicable. All consent forms mentioned the GDPR in one way or the other.

  2. 2.

    Firefox 68.0.1 and Chrome 76.0.3809, respectively.

  3. 3.

    Through third-party tool.

  4. 4.

    Including YouTube.

  5. 5.

    http://optout.aboutads.info/.

  6. 6.

    https://youradchoices.ca/.

  7. 7.

    http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/.

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Acknowledgments

This work is partially funded through the EXPEDiTE project (Grant 867559) by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology under the program “ICT of the Future” between September 2018 and February 2020. We would like to express our great appreciation for valuable criticism and ideas contributed by Gustaf Neumann, Seyedeh Anahit Kazzazi, Seyedeh Mandan Kazzazi, Stefano Rossetti, Kemal Ozan Aybar, Rita Gsenger, and Niklas Kirchner.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sustainable Computing Lab & Institute for Information Systems and New Media, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien), Vienna, Austria

    Soheil Human

  2. Centre for Informatics and Society, Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Vienna, Austria

    Florian Cech

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  1. Soheil Human
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  2. Florian Cech
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Correspondence to Soheil Human .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Informatics, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Alfred Zimmermann

  2. KES International and Bournemouth University, Shoreham-by-sea, UK

    Robert J. Howlett

  3. University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Lakhmi C. Jain

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Human, S., Cech, F. (2021). A Human-Centric Perspective on Digital Consenting: The Case of GAFAM. In: Zimmermann, A., Howlett, R., Jain, L. (eds) Human Centred Intelligent Systems. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 189. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5784-2_12

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