PhD defence Constanta Rosca
eLaw is Proud to announce that our colleague Dr Constanta Rosca successfully defended her PhD thesis 'Digital Arms for Digital Consumer Harms: Mapping Legal and Technical Solutions for Dark Patterns in EU Consumer Law' on Monday 2 December 2024 at her alma mater, Maastricht University Faculty of Law!
Throughout her PhD, Constanta has strived to connect the academic debate on the regulation of dark patterns in EU consumer protection law with discussions on technology regulation in law and technology scholarship to provide a comprehensive overview of the opportunities for – and the problems that may arise in the process of – regulating dark patterns.
Her work shows how technology-neutral policies that do not engage with specific technological phenomena or the way they are developed may contribute to the low rates of compliance with EU consumer protection instruments in digital markets. The thesis also draws on web measurement literature to explore the technical feasibility of computationally detecting unlawful dark patterns in order to better enforcement in digital markets. In the course of this exercise, it shows how technology neutrality may also stand in the way of developing computational methods for digital enforcement purposes.
The thesis thus presents a host of arguments challenging policy and academic preferences for technology-neutral regulation and proposes more technology-specific legal solutions for the regulation of dark patterns in EU consumer law. Its findings and recommendations are relevant for academics, policy-makers and enforcement authorities.
During the defence, Constanta presented a short yet detailed overview of her thesis, starting by predicting the public’s Christmas holiday shopping behaviours and the increased susceptibility to falling victim to dark patterns during this shopping-driven period. The presentation was a great success and was followed by engaging and thought-provoking questions from the opposition. Constanta's expertise in dark patterns was prominently displayed during the defence as she cogently and clearly explained her research.
At eLaw, we are extremely proud of our beloved colleague Constanta and are happy to now address her as Dr!