Smartphones, tablets and wearables that measure step counts or heartbeats, have become an integral part of many people’s everyday lives. All these devices are part of the Internet of Things – a socio-technological reality that is increasingly becoming the focus of legislation. Who is liable for data loss due to hacker attacks or unwanted invasions of privacy? How can we counteract the tendency for devices to be rendered inoperable after a certain time so that consumers buy something new? How should the danger of manipulation be countered? In a new project, researchers from the Universities of Bonn, Osnabrück, Stirling and Warwick (both UK) investigate how consumers can be better protected when using smart devices.
The project “From Smart Technologies to Smart Consumer Laws“ is scheduled to run for three years. The German Research Foundation sponsors the project in cooperation with the British Arts and Humanities Research Council. It has a total funding volume of around 650,000 euros.
The project is aimed at comparing the laws of Germany and the United Kingdom. Prof. Dr. Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider, professor at ECONtribute at the University of Bonn, and Prof. Dr. Christoph Busch from the University of Osnabrück, will deal with the German legal situation. “In this way, we want to identify opportunities to learn from each other’s legal systems and initiate a joint learning process,” says Specht-Riemenschneider.
The project is thematically linked to the Transdisciplinary Research Area “Individuals & Societies” at the University of Bonn as well as the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne.