By: Taylor Sullivan
On February 23, 2022, the European Union publicized its proposal of the Data Act, a piece of legislation drafted to increase transparency and consumer control over data. The Act obligates third party manufacturers collecting data, to share the data. Moreover, the Act works to provide new rules which allow customers to transfer between various different cloud service providers. This comes in response to a growing issue where customers are often not privy to the full extent of their rights with the data collected by manufacturers. By enhancing the overall capacity for consumers to understand and control data, the hope of the Act is to improve the reuse of data in a way that benefits the consumer to whom the data is tied.
The Data Act proposed by the European Commission comes as a complementary addition to the Data Governance Regulation which was proposed in November 2020. The EU Data Governance Act works toward improving trust in data collection and the overall transparency of data collected. This was the first legislative initiative that the European Union has set forth which creates a strategy for handling data and data collection. The idea behind the Act is to increase access to data for reuse and restricts the transfer of non-personal data as well. The Data Governance Act introduces a new framework of data intermediation services maintaining a secure place to complete data-sharing obligations. It encourages giving consumers full control over their own data thus giving them the power to share with companies they deem trustworthy.
As a new addition to the Data Governance Regulation, the drafting of the Data Act will work to increase data availability in several different ways. Primarily, measures to increase legal certainty will facilitate data transfer amongst service providers which encourages activity. Further, the Act works to protect customers from being taken advantage of contractually by those who are in a better negotiating position to improve overall fairness. The Act will work to allow consumers to more easily use the data collected from smart devices, such as Amazon Alexa or a smart vehicle. By doing so, the consumer may control where the data ends up or even how it is used.
The new regulations allow for after-market service providers to have equal opportunity to those manufacturers who may work beforehand to collect the data. Since consumers have the ability to control where data from their connected product goes, they may opt for cheaper solutions to issues rather than the first choice of the device collecting the data. Allowing the consumer to choose where the data goes gives the advantage of comparative competition which enables consumers to get assistance at lower prices. Moreover, improving the trust that consumers have in the collection of data through smart devices may contribute to further use of Internet of Things analytics for things like farms and construction projects. For example, if farmers have the ability to monitor weather, moisture, temperature, etc. through the collection of their data the quality of the farming might be improved.
Giving consumers power sparks more competition amongst providers and thus decreases the chances that a monopoly will take over in a particular product or service area. The Act works to ensure that larger companies are prohibited from contracting with consumers in a way that would unfairly block data sharing with smaller companies thus inhibiting consumers from using those smaller companies. Further, enabling data sharing will increase its availability in the public sector during emergencies.
Overall, this is a large part of the first piece of European legislation proposed to create a strategy for dealing with data collection as well as the giants in the field of manufacturing whose devices collect data. The European government has shown interest in ensuring consumers’ abilities to understand their rights and uses of their own data which is collected. This is one step forward towards encouraging autonomy in data usage and discouraging data giants from taking advantage of individuals who may not fully understand how to use their data advantageously. Working to emphasize healthy competition by not allowing titans of the industry to rule out smaller companies, will help curb tactics that take advantage of the unknowing consumer.
Student Bio: Taylor Sullivan is a third-year law student at Suffolk University Law School. She is a staffer on the Journal of High Technology Law. Taylor received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice and Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity from the State University of New York – University at Albany.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHTL or Suffolk University Law School.
