The Joint Law Societies Brussels Office held an event on 10 May which will focus on the relationship between big data, competition and consumer protection.
The increased use of technology has profoundly changed the retail and services markets and made access for consumers to buy goods and services online a lot easier. It also revolutionised the way consumers buy goods and services. With the ease of shopping online came the challenges of gathering, keeping and protecting the consumer data. And with the growing rates of generating all sorts of data came the possibility of targeted advertising. But how can we ensure fair competition when some operators use the advantage given by big data to target the consumers and possibly exclude them from other products and services? How can technological progress change the landscape of advertising, consumer choice and consumer protection? What should be the appropriate regulatory response?
We invited Werner Stengg, Head of Unit for e-commerce and platforms of the DG Connect and Professor Ariel Ezrachi, Slaughter and May and Professor of Competition Law at the University of Oxford to address these and more questions.
Read the full event report here.
