Schmidt, Kaja | Ullrich, André | Eigelshoven Felix

FROM EXPLOITATIVE STRUCTURES TOWARDS DATA SUBJECT-INCLUSIVE PERSONAL DATA MARKETS – A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Companies that offer digital services to users for free are tempted to market their digital by-catch, personal data, on rapidly evolving personal data markets (PDMs). This paper presents a systematic literature review on PDM instruments that actively involve data subjects. First, by reviewing and classifying existing data subject-inclusive PDM instruments, six categories of PDM instruments are identified. Second, the contribution of the identified instruments towards creating data subject-inclusive PDMs is analyzed using a six-dimensional normative ethics-based framework. The analysis outlines technical, legal, and political instruments that could shape exploitative PDMs to become more ethical and data subject-inclusive. This shall nudge scholars to develop instruments that change current market structures, thus fostering data subject-inclusivity and minimizing inequalities in PDMs. Furthermore, the paper shall guide policy makers and practitioners in setting morally adequate framework conditions to create more data subject-inclusive PDMs.