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logical reasons. It is widely acknowledged, though,   Consumer protection laws typically involve the appli-
            that all consumers are vulnerable in some respects.   cation of rules, principles and procedures to give
            We cannot know everything at all times. We have a   consumers certain rights relating to the products
            limited ability to assess risk and benefits, i.e., we are   and services they purchase. These rights include:
            subject to “bounded rationality.” 48
               In consumer protection, the State intervenes    •  rights prior to purchase (pre-engagement), such
            through laws and processes in what would otherwise   as information about the product or service pro-
            be a private relationship between consumer and pro-  vided;
            vider. The need for this arises from perceived asym-  •  the provision, quality and functioning of the prod-
            metries between providers and consumers. These       uct or service itself (engagement); and
            may include information asymmetries, where provid-  •  post-purchase means of holding providers
            ers have greater data, knowledge and understanding   accountable (post-engagement).
            than consumers. Differences in economic scale can
            also result in severe asymmetries of bargaining pow-  The FAT values may apply in the pre-engagement
            er. In addition, the transaction costs that consumers   phase, requiring notification to consumers about the
            would face if they had to negotiate assurances about   product or service they are getting and sometimes
            every product or service they acquire are too high to   securing express consent to it so that the consumer
            be feasible. As a result, a purely private, negotiated   can take responsibility for their decisions.
            bargain between consumer and provider would be       However, a substantial part of consumer protec-
            one-sided.                                         tion law operates on the premise that even if the con-
               Consumer protection is formulated in various    sumer is notified about and consents to a product
            ways,  but commonly  seeks to  promote  the values   or service on the offered terms and conditions, such
            of fairness, accountability and transparency (FAT).    consent alone may not adequately achieve fairness,
                                                         49
            The policy debate around consumer protection in    accountability and transparency. Thus, the FAT values
            relation to artificial intelligence and machine learn-  may also apply in the engagement phase, i.e., to the
            ing concerns the capacity of algorithms and machine   actual product or service itself – its safety, quality or
            learning systems to reflect such values.  Consumers   other features and conditions of provision. Therefore,
                                               50
            may be vulnerable when dealing with services rely-  consumer protection laws go further than pre-en-
            ing on computer processing for numerous reasons.   gagement notice and consent where notice and con-
            Their functioning exceeds the comprehension of     sent would not sufficiently protect the consumer and
            most  of  the  population.  Their  precise,  digital  pro-  should not alleviate responsibility of the provider.
            cesses and results have a “seductive precision of out-  Again, FAT principles apply also in the post-en-
            put.”  As a result, computers and results driven by   gagement phase to ensure accountability mecha-
                51
            them may be perceived as being objective and even   nisms for securing explanations of why a given prod-
            fair. Today, however, there are risks that consumers   uct or service was provided in the manner it was.
            will find some aspects of digital services to be unfair,   They provide for consumers to have an opportunity
            unaccountable and non-transparent (the opposite    to contest such decisions, and a means of redress
            of FAT), undermining trust between consumers and   where harm has resulted. Such protections may be
            service providers and so hampering the prospects   applied regardless of whether the consumer has con-
            for growth in digital services.                    sented otherwise. For instance, many countries’ laws
                                                               do not permit consumers to submit to certain types



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