As digitization progresses, new questions arise for consumer policy. The Consumer Research Forum of the Consumer, Market and Policy Research Centre (CCMP) on the topic of "Artificial Intelligence and consumer policy: Opportunities for consumer informatics", which took place in April 2019, aimed at defining the young term "consumer informatics", presenting good practices and identifying research needs. It was organized by the CCMP in cooperation with the ConPolicy institute for consumer policy, the European University Institute (EUI) in the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Consumer Protection of Baden-Wuerttemberg (MLR).
The various contributions have now been summarized in a publication. Two ConPolicy experts contributed to this publication. In his article Prof. Dr. Christian Thorun deals with the question of how digital technologies can be used to attain consumer policy goals. Consumer protection technologies are suitable, among other things, for meeting consumer protection, empowerment and law enforcement goals of consumer policy. Digital innovations can also support online consumer advice.
In her article, Dr. Sara Elisa Kettner introduces the PrivacyGuard. In the form of a prototypical app client, browser extension or data protection analyzer, it detects excessive data collection by smartphone apps. This helps users to achieve more transparency and control over their data. The PrivacyGuard scanner aims to promote self-determination, provide information, take individual preferences into account and offer consumers concrete options for action. Thus, it is a tool for advancing consumer policy through digital innovation.
The contributions were published in the booklet of the consumer research forum "Artificial Intelligence and Consumer Policy: Opportunities of Consumer Informatics".