Digital Platforms Inquiry – Preliminary Report
The submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in response to its Preliminary Report on the Digital Platforms Inquiry was prepared by the Law Council.
The Law Council has limited its comments to the ACCC’s preliminary recommendations 8, 9, 10 and 11 and to proposed areas for further analysis and assessment 4, 7, 8 and 9, as they are most relevant to privacy considerations in the view of the Law Council. In the final section of our comments, the Law Council proposes additional issues for the ACCC to consider.
The Law Council acknowledges that the complex and rapidly evolving nature of the digital platform marketplace is reconstituting the power and knowledge relations between consumers, digital platform providers, digital intermediaries, media organisations and advertisers. Data about activities, preferences and interests of individuals has become a new currency which consumers knowingly or otherwise trade for services offered over digital platforms. These changes have significant implications for data regulation of transparency, choice, unambiguous consent, reciprocity of benefits, and data handling practices of many entities, including providers of digital platforms.
You can read the full submission below.