Page 70 - The Fourth Industrial Revolution

regard to the reduced degree of protection in the context of the on-demand

economy, where every worker has essentially become a contractor, who no
longer benefits from job security and longevity.

Money and taxation
The on-demand economy is also raising serious issues with regard to tax
collection, as it becomes much easier and attractive for transient workers to
operate in the black market. While digitally mediated payment systems are

making transactions and micro-transactions more transparent, new
decentralized payment systems are emerging today, which could
significantly hinder the ability for public authorities and private actors to

trace the origin and destination of such transactions.

Liability and protection

Government-issued monopolies (e.g. the taxi industry, medical
practitioners) have long been justified on the grounds that certain types of
high-risk professions require a higher degree of scrutiny and should only be
performed by licensed professionals so as to ensure a proper degree of
safety and consumer protection. Many of these government-issued

monopolies are now being disrupted by technological advances which
enable people to interact with one another on a peer-to-peer basis and by
the emergence of novel intermediaries in charge of coordinating peers and

facilitating their interactions.

Security and privacy

Despite the transnational character of the internet network and the growing
global economy, data rights and data protection regulations are still heavily
fragmented. Rules around the collection, processing and reselling of
personal data are well defined in Europe but are still weak or entirely

lacking in many other jurisdictions. The aggregation of large datasets is
making it possible for large online operators to deduce more information
than was actually provided (either implicitly or explicitly) by users. User
profiling through big-data analysis and inference techniques is opening the

way for new, much more customized and personalized services, which can
benefit users and consumers, but which also raise important concerns when
it comes to user privacy and individual autonomy. Given increased concerns
around cyber crime and identity theft, in many jurisdictions, the balance

between surveillance and freedom is rapidly tipping towards increased
monitoring, as shown by revelations brought to light by Edward Snowden,

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