The predominant approach of various data privacy regulations around the world is to stop or limit organizational arbitrariness in collecting personal data on the internet. The aim of these data privacy regulations is to address the privacy concerns of users and enable a safe online space where they can disclose their data. Some studies find the intended effect, i.e. more regulation leads to a reduction in privacy concerns of users. However, more regulation does not simply mean that people are less concerned. Research also shows the effect of regulation to be dependent on user characteristics or the strength of the regulation determines whether the effect is positive or negative. Further, there is not the one regulation but depending on what aspect of regulation we look at, for example degree of governmental involvement or restrictiveness of the laws, regulation can have a different form. Due to this variety of regulation and its effects it is necessary to take a closer look at the multiple forms of regulation and their specific interplay with individual behavior to gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms that provoke the differences in previous findings. This will then help to adjust regulations according to their intended effects on user behavior, i.e. disclosure of data. To achieve this, the thesis examines the different types of regulatory measures in data privacy regulations and their individual effect on user behavior. This thesis consists of five essays that make use of multiple research methods, i.e. a structured literature review, taxonomy development and quantitative studies. The findings of the thesis contribute to the understanding of the impact of data privacy regulations on individual disclosure behavior by 1) identifying the construct of regulation to be multifaceted with each type of regulation impacting individual behavior differently, 2) ascribing contextual as well as personality based preconditions to the different types of regulatory measures that determine their effectiveness to provide privacy to users, and 3) relating regulatory impact on users with cultural influences, i.e. variations in the impact of the regulatory types depending on the cultural believes of an individual.

Brain Organoids in their current state of development are patentable. Future brain organoids may face some challenges in this regard, which I address in this contribution. Brain organoids unproblematically fulfil the general prerequisites of patentability set forth in Art. 3 (1) EU-Directive 98/44/EC (invention, novelty, inventive step and susceptibility of industrial application). Patentability is excluded if an invention makes use of human embryos or constitutes a stage of the human body in the individual phases of its formation and development. Both do not apply to brain organoids, unless ES-cells are used. Art. 6 (1) EU-Directive 98/44/EC excludes patentability for inventions “the commercial exploitation of which would be contrary to ordre public or morality”. While there is no conceivable scenario, in which the commercial application of current brain organoids violates the ordre public , the same is not necessarily true for future brain organoids. Keeping in mind that a development of consciousness-like abilities in future brain organoids cannot be excluded and that an ability for both physical and psychological suffering has been theorized, both of which are aspects of the ordre public , certain applications of future brain organoids may constitute a violation of the ordre public and therefore lead to an exclusion of patentability.

Following its approval by the European Parliament in April 2022, the Data Governance Act (DGA) is the first legislative instrument announced in the European Data Strategy to come into force. Aimed at facilitating the re-use and sharing of data in and between the private and public sectors, the DGA introduces regulation for a newly emerging type of digital platforms – the so-called “providers of data intermediation services”. In order to offer their services on the market, providers will have to submit to a prior notification procedure and show compliance with several conditions placed on their economic activities. The regulation of data intermediaries is intended to increase their trustworthiness and ensure the competitiveness of the markets in which they operate. Recent experiences with digital platforms have shown the potential of intermediaries to organise and facilitate markets. At the same time, digital platforms pose undeniable risks to their users and markets at large. Against this backdrop, the role of data intermediaries as envisioned by the DGA must be examined carefully before turning to the question whether the DGA can achieve competitive and trustworthy data sharing through registered third parties. This paper intends to shed light on these and other issues by examining, in-depth, the chapter in the DGA dedicated to data intermediaries (Art. 10–15) from a legal, policy and competition economics perspective. In particular, this paper explores how the experiences made with large-scale digital platforms have shaped the DGA. Thereby, this paper aims to contribute towards a holistic understanding of these provisions as a basis for an informed discussion on the legal framework and on possible alternatives.

As an established academic journal in the e-commerce and digital platforms fields, Electronic Markets (EM) features a diverse range of topics and occupies a significant role in the information systems field. The study investigates EM’s topic diversity over the time period 2009–2020 using a text mining analysis and a bibliometric analysis and identifies 28 cluster groups.The analysis reveals that the top three topics are 1) service quality, 2) blockchain and other shared trust building solutions,their impact and credibility, as well as 3) consumer buying behavior and interactions. EM's core identity lies in a balanced set of core themes that bring technological, business or human/ social perspectives to the research of networked business and digital economy. This includes research on digital and smart services, applications, consumer behavior and business models,as well as technology and e-commerce data. Ethical and sustainability related topics are however still less present in EM.