ABSTRACT
The European Parliament and the European Council recently reached political agreement in principle on a digital market regulation and a digital services regulation. For some time, legal experts have been sensitive to the effects that the digital market may have on users and citizens in general. This is because personal data cannot be considered as a ‘good’ in the same way as products and services; personal identity must not be jeopardised by digital identity; and the fundamental rights of the individual cannot be trumped by the market economy. Users – who were previously accustomed to being counterparties to businesses, so that each legislature had to balance the two sets of interests – now fall under one of three categories: professionals, who use platforms to distribute products and services; consumers, who buy or use products and services through platforms, establishing legal relationships with them through a process of interactive communication; and so-called ‘prosumers’. This chapter analyses the concept of ownership in the light of this new area of market regulation.
