Abstract
We are entering into an era of new technological possibilities. Many benefits will be derived for consumers from the development of data and computer-driven innovation. We will have new products and services and new ways of making and supplying goods and services.Without wanting to inhibit innovation, this article calls for the legal system to remain committed to an ideology and legal framework that supports consumer protection. It will counsel against assuming that the law should give way unduly to the technology agenda, whilst accepting that adaptations should be made and also that there should be a critical review of whether traditional forms of regulation are needed in the Fourth Industrial Age.
Highlights
We are entering into an era of new technological possibilities
It will counsel against assuming that the law should give way unduly to the technology agenda, whilst accepting that adaptations should be made and that there should be a critical review of whether traditional forms of regulation are needed in the Fourth Industrial Age
Many of the factors that are considered in need of review due to developments in the Fourth Industrial Age are old chestnuts that have been debated for sometime, such as the status of software or the line between a trader and a hobbyist
Summary
Digitalization is affecting the consumer market in ways that could not have been imagined a generation ago. Alongside all these positive developments, digitalization is provoking major disruptive effects in the consumer marketplace This has impacted on traditional business models. The millennium might have triggered a major computing meltdown and so there was good reason to prepare for and consider the legal consequences Those who point to all the possible legal issues arising from the new consumer marketplace are performing a valuable service. There are other areas of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, especially where bio-technology is involved, that impact on consumers and undoubtedly will pose new ethical challenges to society Many of these developments will challenge traditional regulation and legal rules and may require different regulatory solutions (Brownsword 2008; Brownsword and Yeung 2008). Regulatory sandpits may be needed to provide for experimentation: Though these are more justified in relation to financial product innovation than when health or moral ethical issues are at stake
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