03/02/2023

Study within the CO:DINA project funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection
New ConPolicy project on consumer-friendly and sustainable design of digital platforms

Digital platforms are powerful, and they are being criticized for driving fake news, hate speech, and being a haven for 'surveillance capitalism'. However, a blind spot in the platform debate has been the ecological impact of platforms on our daily lives. Platforms and online commerce are increasingly shaping our private consumption and are thus becoming an important lever for climate, environmental and resource protection in everyday life. Advertising-financed business models and the commercial growth logic of companies are turning social media platforms, search engines and online stores into consumption drivers, without regard for climate protection and resource consumption.

Against this background, the Wuppertal Institute has commissioned ConPolicy with a research project as part of the CO:DINA research guideline 'Digital-ecological statecraft'. The aim of this project is to investigate how the existing system design of platforms affects consumer interests and societal interests. On the one hand, it will be clarified which concerns already exist with regard to consumer protection, and on the other hand, how sustainable consumption can be promoted by strengthening consumer protection. Based on the findings, political approaches will be developed on how platforms can be made more sustainable and consumer-friendly.

Further information on the project can be found here.

02/21/2023

Study for the DIN Consumer Council
ConPolicy study 'Consumer security knowledge and behavior in the digital space' published

In the light of increasing digitalization, consumers are confronted with new challenges regarding the IT-security of their devices. Against this background, ConPolicy conducted a representative online survey on behalf of the DIN Consumer Council (DIN-VR) on the topic of consumer security knowledge and behavior in the digital space. Additionally, the consumers’ wishes for a further development of the framework conditions and support measures were investigated. The study was published on February 21, 2023. 

The results show that IT-security labels generally help consumers when purchasing IoT devices. Consumers are also willing to take a high degree of personal responsibility for the security of their IoT devices. Furthermore, consumers wish for stricter rules in the approval of devices and the banning of unsafe devices. Overall, consumers want more transparency about the security of digital devices. 

Dr. Christiane Rohleder, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV), commented: "The DIN Consumer Council study shows that consumers want to be able to rely on the safety of digital devices. Therefore, in addition to transparency, 'security by design' is also central. Security must already be taken into account in the design and default settings of digital devices."

Dr. Alexander Goschew, DIN Consumer Council, said: "Our study underlines the importance of more transparency in IT security of consumer devices, for example through the use of easily understandable security labels."

Further information on the project can be found here.  

The results of the study can be found here.

The press information by BMUV and DIN Consumer Council can be found here.