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2017 U. Ill. J.L. Tech. & Pol'y 469 (2017)
Internet, New Technologies, and Value: Taking Share of Economic Surveillance

handle is hein.journals/jltp2017 and id is 481 raw text is: 








INTERNET, NEW TECHNOLOGIES, AND

VALUE: TAKING SHARE OF ECONOMIC

SURVEILLANCE

A  Review of (and discussion around) VALERIE-LAURE  BENABOU  &  JUDITH
ROCHFELD,  A QUI PROFITE LE CLIC? LE PARTAGE  DE LA VALEUR  A L'ERE DU
NUMERIQUE  (2015)

                                                     W  Gregory  Vosst


                               Abstract
     This review of (and discussion around) Valkrie-Laure Benabou and Judith
Rochfeld's as yet untranslated book, A qui profite le clic? Le partage de la
valeur a l'are du numbrique, begins by briefly tracing the development of the
Internet from disintermediation to today's situation where new Internet
intermediaries capture the value of personal data and user-generated content
created on or through the web. Once recent developments involving disclosure
of mass surveillance and European adoption of new data protection legislation
are discussed, the authors' book is introduced, and the discussion shifts to
economic surveillance. Cookies-which  are the tools that allow the giant,
mainly American   Internet companies to capture data  about web-users'
behavior-and   reactions to their use are debated.   The  necessity for
transparency and the failure of contractual provisions to mirror true consent
are detailed.
     During the reading of Benabou and Rochfeld's book, we note that an
important actor in the creation of value-the consumer-does not necessarily
receive his or her share of the resulting value. The law, which has a role in
defending certain values, whether it be copyright law, competition law, or
contract law, has difficulties dealing with new paradigms created by new
technologies and information. In Europe, fundamental rights and consumer law
are supposed to help the web user, but do they go far enough? The book's
authors propose beginnings ofsolutions to the law's difficulties in this context-
based on transparency, technical mastery of content by the consumers who
created it, control of consent, and collective action. Although the book leaves
us hungry for more,  it also leaves us thought-provoked as the reviewer
comments.



    t  Toulouse Business School, University of Toulouse, g.voss@tbs-education.fr.


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