UNCTAD e-commerce Week 2017: Putting people at the heart of the digital economy

To mark UNCTAD e-commerce week (24-28 April 2017), Consumers International’s Director General Amanda Long outlines the need for a fairer and more inclusive digital economy that is built on consumer protection and trust.

UNCTAD e-commerce Week: Amanda Long speaks at high-level panel on
'Digital Transformation for all'

It goes without saying that people are at the heart of digital transformation. People as consumers, as citizens, as families, friends and employees, as students or as business owners.

For many people, e-commerce is the gateway to the digital world and the wealth of social and economic opportunities it provides. It is where we buy and compare products, transfer our money and savings, set up and maintain online businesses. And for those who are only now gaining access to the internet e-commerce is likely to be their first online interaction.

In recent years, the global e-commerce industry has seen an explosive pattern of growth. Total e-commerce sales generated around $1 trillion in 2012 and this total is now thought to be close to $1.9 trillion annually - almost doubling in just four years.

Yet whilst these figures give us a sense of the enormous potential that the digital economy could have for consumers and businesses across the globe, to fully embrace the benefits, we must create a digital world that works for everyone, everywhere.

The many faces of e-commerce

By taking a look at just some of the wonderful examples of how people are using e-commerce, it is clear to see why diversity and participation are so important:

• In Uganda, young people with innovative business ideas are being granted access to crowdsourced loans online through the Youth Empowerment scheme. [1]
• Artisan producers in Morocco use online platforms like Anao to sell products direct to customers around the world. Co-operatives like the Women Weavers of Morocco eliminate the need for the middleman and so increase profits. [2]
• Start-up business like the SafeMoto app in Rwanda are combatting the issue of road accidents, 80% of which involve mototaxis. The app scores mototaxi drivers for safety using telematic software on their smartphones. Customers can clearly see who are the bad drivers, and opt for a safer ride thus driving demand for safer transport. [3]  

In all of these examples we see the empowerment of consumers through the creation of new services and jobs, new markets and growth.

There is so much more, however, that still needs to be done before we have a digital world that works for everyone. With only 50% of the world currently online, there are still many consumers who are missing out on the power of e-commerce. According to the World Bank’s Digital Dividends report, only 15% of the world’s population have access to high-speed broadband and nearly 2 billion people do not own a mobile phone, leaving them unable to fully participate in the digital economy.

It is vital that we find the right balance between e-commerce that works for businesses and consumers. To do this, we must strive for digital transformation that is built on consumer trust and participation.

So how do we get it right?

Ensuring that everyone has their say. Yesterday I was on the UNCTAD e-commerce Week high-level panel on ‘Digital Transformational for all’. The event included talks from Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Jack Ma, founder and chairman of Alibaba Group as well as politicians, entrepreneurs, representatives’ from civil society and academia.

Another exciting announcement this week was the launch of UNCTAD’s ‘e-Trade for All’ online platform. This innovative online information hub will connect developing countries with potential partners and donors to empower them to make the most of e-commerce as a powerful driver of development.

We must follow the superb example set by UNCTAD’s e-commerce week and continue to involve a multitude of voices and opinions on the journey to digital transformation and progress. Let’s listen to consumers, producers, employees, prosumers and business owners about their experiences online, their expectations, needs and concerns. What does trust and confidence look like to them and how do we design it in?

Breaking the assumption that consumer protection stifles innovation. It won’t. In fact, careful design and safeguards to improve people’s confidence is essential if we want to bring everyone along on the journey to digital transformation and growth. We need to pay attention to social, economic, cultural and personal impacts on people and enterprises. If we don’t we risk creating a digital world where people are either left behind or lose their faith in the digital products and services available to them.

Making the most of international cooperation and connection. Building a trusted digital world can’t be done by one single entity, because we are all connected. Connectivity is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, we can connect to new markets, new products, our friends, new investments. On the other hand, when everyday things like payments mess up, or updates slow down a device, or when uncanny decisions are made about us based on our habits, it erodes our faith in the other amazing things that we can do with it.

So we need to make the most of the positive nature of connectivity. These connections across sectors, borders and segments mean that international organizations like UNCTAD are more important than ever. The UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection, for example, were updated last year to reflect the changing digital landscape for consumers. They show how together international bodies can create sound principles for consumers, certainty for businesses, and set a marker for good business practice in a changing world.

By working together, we can ensure the e-commerce industry is a driver of greater prosperity and equality for consumers across the globe.

1 - Mushana E SACCO Uganda Ltd. 2016. ‘Uganda Youth Economic Empowerment’. Fire Africa. Online link http://www.fireafrica.org/projects/projects/view/1057

2 - Boots, A. 2015, ‘Anou Connects Moroccan Weavers to World Market’, Fair Observer. Online link: https://www.fairobserver.com/region/middle_east_north_africa/anou-connects-moroccan-weavers-to-world-market-12804/

3 - Mulligan, G. 2016. ‘The Sharing Economy Takes Off in Africa’. This is Africa a Global Perspective. Online link: http://www.thisisafricaonline.com/News/Sharing-economy-takes-off-in-Africa?ct=true

Digital Identity - what could it mean for consumers?

In our latest blog post Amanda Long, Director General at Consumers International, discusses the topic of digital identity and the potential benefits and threats for consumers.

The idea of people having an easy way to prove their identity online through a digital identity is not new, but has so far been used mainly by governments enabling citizens’ access to public services. Austrian citizens can use an approved app on their smart phone, or a smart card to apply for benefits, do tax returns or access healthcare. 

A digital identity is a means by which individuals can prove their identity online - for example, job applicants needing to prove their residency status, or even qualifications.  It links up to an identity checking system which can verify that the person with that identity is who they say they are – both online and in person. This means people can use their digital identity credentials to access services or products without having to physically present valuable documents, such as passports, birth certificates, driving licenses or a handful of utility bills.

Digital identity could represent a comprehensive solution to many millions of people who are effectively barred from entry to many things that could improve their quality of life. Without traditional forms of documentation, transactions like renting accommodation, setting up a bank account or getting a mobile phone contract become impossible.

It could also solve problems for consumers in more developed markets, wherever identity is a problem. According to a start-up digital identity provider: “Age verification online would prevent underage users from opening inappropriate social media accounts, and ensure that minors cannot access adult content. It would also help online retailed to confirm that someone is eligible to buy age restricted goods like DVDs, computer games, alcohol, cigarettes and knives” (YOTI)

Digital identity could potentially deliver financial inclusion, seen as a strong route out of poverty - or at the very least accelerates us towards it. The World Bank has a programme dedicated to identity and financial inclusion, ID4D – which “helps countries analyse problems, design solutions, and implement new systems to increase the number of people with official identification and the development impact of the overall identification system.”

Of course for some people, the scope that any kind of centralised identity system has for government surveillance and discrimination will be cautious about the implications of digital identity systems. With this large caveat in mind, what is there that we learn from the pioneering steps governments have taken in exploring digital identity that might be useful for budding consumer applications? The UK digital identity verification programme has developed a set of Consumer and Privacy principles to guide practice. 

These types of frameworks will be important as the implications of this technology could be significant. If it is not designed with protection in mind and regulated accordingly:

-          Individuals’ privacy could be at risk, with the potential for personal data for all parts of your digital existence being held by digital ID verification services, as a means to authenticate who you are, with you having little or no control of what’s collected and stored or how it is being used to make decisions about you.  If alternative income streams to monetising consumers’ personal data aren’t identified then the risks to privacy will continue.

-          There is a threat of lack of consumer choice. It is very possible that a critical mass could form of people using a particular digital identity service that means it is effectively forced onto everyone.  This could mean less competition between digital ID verification providers and also a weakening of consumers’ rights to protection. In this scenario, the speed at which a particular service is adopted by a mass of people may mean that the opportunity to check, challenge and reform terms and conditions of the service are reduced. An individual who is swept up with this, who sees it as the only way to continue access to a product, may agree to terms and conditions that if given more time or choice they would not.

-          We might also see a situation where one person would need multiple digital identities, in order to access a variety of services as companies may not recognise the same identity providers.

-          The liability model for digital identity is also complex. For example, should digital identity providers be responsible for actions done based on the authentication they give?

With so much potential for consumer benefit and significant threats at play, consumer organisations must build up their expertise on this issue so they can influence the private sector as it develops digital identity systems. Consumer organisations are in a strong position to draw upon existing public sector practice, and the need for trust, confidence and consumer protection in digital systems to influence this nascent industry for the better.

How can consumers make meaningful choices in the digital world?

This week, Amanda Long, Director General of Consumers International spoke at EDPS-BEUC conference on Big Data: Individual Rights and Smart Enforcement [1]in Brussels which brought together issues of competition, consumer protection and data protection.  You can read Amanda’s full speech here. Below is an extract.

Questions of size, power, competition and choice have never been so important to our understanding of consumer protection and empowerment in the digital world.  The reach of so many big internet companies is remarkable: one in two global internet users visit Amazon on a monthly basis[2].  Google has a 71% share of the search market globally, rising to 90% in the European Union[3]. WhatsApp is the top messaging app in 109 countries, or 56% of the world.[4]

Consumers are feeling the direct impact that such large players have on their individual choices: from privacy tools disappearing from app stores[5], or WhatsApp users seeing the service bought out by Facebook, followed by changes to the terms of data sharing [6],  to the impenetrable terms and conditions which people must agree to in order to access digital services[7].  These digital services that quickly link up friends, music, events and travel are convenient and can be great fun but can also feel a bit like a lobster pot - easy to get into but very tricky to get out of.

Many multinational platforms and digital companies have become indispensable to contemporary life, offering high quality, convenient digital interactions. The data monetisation model behind some, where people ‘exchange’ information about themselves for the service with no upfront financial cost, makes for a tantalising offer.   They are the default by which consumers experience and interact with digital - the gateway to the internet if you like: we don’t search, we Google, we don’t make videocalls, we Skype.

The dominance of a small number of firms is significant because people’s choice over whether to engage or not in the digital world is becoming increasingly limited.[8]  If a few large companies effectively become gateways to all the internet has to offer, then we have to ask questions about how their size and dominance impact consumer choice, power and protection?

In the European Union, the prospects of keeping markets competitive and consumers protected are closely tied. It is suggested that competition itself can offer a protection of sorts by creating markets where companies compete for customers on the basis of value, quality and strong consumer credentials. In reality, without a range of options, and without an easy way to move between these options, it is difficult for consumers to sever ties if they are unsatisfied with a particular service. As a result, it becomes very hard to gauge whether people are happy or unhappy with services and the way companies operate. Classic ideas of competition and consumer protection are therefore stretched. 

Looking ahead to the next phase of digital consumption; the internet of things, heavy reliance on a small number of large companies could become even more important.  As well as raising privacy and security issues, the internet of things marks a major change in how we think about consumption, purchase and ownership. This is mostly because of so-called ‘hybrid’ products [9]– where physical products are owned by the customer, yet the presence of software means the device is subject to contract terms and conditions, which could put unexpected limitations on its use or make exiting a contract difficult.

Large established players already marking out territory in the internet of things will have to gather and connect data to as many objects and people as possible to make their connected services thrive. The more data points connected, the more potentially valuable the insights, so drawing in and retaining as many customers as possible will be top of companies’ agenda.  Exercising choice could get harder for consumers, as they lean towards contracting with one company as an easy way of bringing together multiple services. In practice, switching provider by exiting contracts will be time consuming or inconvenient.  Add to this the difficulties in transferring data between suppliers and lock in seems more and more inevitable.

These limitations on choosing between providers are really important for the digital age.  If competition can no longer effectively deliver consumer protection through providing choice, then we need to approach things differently.   In fact there is the real opportunity to forge a positive consumer agenda for the digital age that addresses areas of consumer concern and offers real choice over how to participate.  A complex, integral and dominating set of relationships should not put us off arguing for a fairer and more accountable digital system for consumers.
For example:
-          Data portability and system interoperability – to enable easy transfer between different services, keep different options open, and keep the value of data close to consumer control
-          Smarter use of information, and more transparency on how decisions based on data are made, not just what data is collected.  
-          Innovations that aid consumer understanding and build consumer trust and confidence such as personal data intermediaries. 

The genie is out of the bottle.  Widespread digital technology is here.  There is real potential for consumers to benefit but also a flip side presenting widespread negative consumer outcomes.  It is up to us to work together to ensure that the practices and delivery of large digital companies stand up to the scrutiny and expectations of the people whose lives are so entwined with them.

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[1] http://www.beuc.eu/press-media/news-events/joint-conference-big-data-september-29 

[2] https://www.globalwebindex.net/blog/topic/trends-2016

[3] https://www.statista.com/markets/424/topic/541/search-engines-seo/

[4] https://www.statista.com/statistics/258749/most-popular-global-mobile-messenger-apps/

[5] http://www.computerworld.com/article/2929835/it-industry/disconnect-files-eu-antitrust-complaint-against-google-after-app-ban.html

[6] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37184651

[7] http://www.forbrukerradet.no/side/250000-words-of-app-terms-and-conditions/

[8] https://openmedia.org/en/internet-access-ruled-essential-daily-life

[9] http://www.consumersinternational.org/media/1657273/connection-and-protection-the-internet-of-things-and-challenges-for-consumer-protection.pdf

OECD E-commerce guidelines – a step forward for consumers in the digital age

Robin Simpson, Consumers International's Senior Policy Advisor discusses the recently revised OECD E-commerce guidelines and their implications for consumers.

The OECD published its revised E-commerce guidelines at the end of March. They form a useful outline for any regulator that is developing work in this area and a good starting point for consumer groups that want to evaluate the protection offered to online consumers in their country. 

First issued in 1999 after negotiation by the OECD’s Committee on Consumer Policy in which Consumers International (CI) participated, (and still does) the guidelines have made an important contribution to consumer protection, on issues such as unfair contract terms, transparency of contracts and transactions, dispute resolution machinery, all of which CI supported. 

The new guidelines contain some important additions, they extend to mobile transactions, digital content, non-monetary transactions (such as exchange of personal data), online consumer reviews and C2C platforms. The guidelines in both their 1999 and 2016 versions, are underpinned by the ‘equivalence principle’ that consumers using e-commerce should have the same level of protection as in other forms of commerce. This matters, as CI’s 2013 global survey found that online transactions often received less protection, as national legislation struggled to keep up. 

CI concentrated on two key issues during the four years of negotiation:

Limited liability for consumers in the event of unauthorised or fraudulent charges. This was already recommended in the 1999 version which endorsed ‘chargeback mechanisms’ such as credit card guarantees. We argued successfully for the extension of OECD recognition to ‘escrow’ which parks consumers’ payments with third party intermediaries, such as Alipay in China, which does not release the consumer’s payment until the goods have been delivered and inspected. Such services have existed for centuries and are now spreading rapidly again through e-commerce. The OECD endorsement of limited liability was important for CI in our negotiations in ISO for a standard on mobile payments. We are happy to see it reaffirmed and extended. 

A far less happy outcome relates to digital products where we have long argued in OECD that copyright protection should not extend to disabling a consumer’s computer or other terminal through ‘technical protection measures’, a practice which currently works through software implants, often unbeknown to consumers, who may have inadvertently breached their lease contracts. We argued that if such measures are permitted, they should at least be guided by the principle of proportionality: if I park my car by mistake in your parking bay that does not give you the right to wreck it. The committee failed to reach consensus on this proposal – one delegate described it as ‘too new’ even though the principle of proportionality was spelt out in the Magna Carta, the foundation of English law, in 1250. The only protection offered by the guidelines is a very indirect suggestion that warning be given in the product/contract information. Yet it is well known that almost no-one reads end user licence agreements – they ‘tick, click and hope for the best’. 

Also disappointing to CI is brevity and vagueness of the articles on security and privacy. The guidelines ‘refer out’ to other guidelines such as those on Privacy, which will not necessarily be available to the reader. Yet security issues still inhibit many consumers especially regarding cross-border transactions. As governments continue to fail to reach agreement on ‘applicable law and jurisdiction’, (jargon for which country’s law should be applied) then, faced with insecurity, consumers will flock to third party intermediaries. 

The recently revised OECD guidelines on ‘Consumer Protection in E-commerce’ address recent developments in technology and e-commerce. One emerging area CI has conducted research on is in relation to the Internet of Things and challenges for consumer protection http://consint.info/IoTReportNews