Consumer Security in Virtual Space: A Study of the Integration between Criminal Protection and Jurisprudential Guarantees in Light of Jurisprudential Rules and Algerian Legislation

Abstract

This study examines “consumer security in virtual space” through an integrative approach that combines mechanisms of criminal protection under Algerian legislation with the guarantees established in Islamic jurisprudence. It proceeds from the premise that electronic contracting has created an imbalance in contractual power, whereby the consumer faces “technical dependency” and “informational vulnerability” before a supplier who controls the software environment. This situation requires a protective system that combines the strictness of criminal deterrence with the flexibility of jurisprudential guarantees, in order to restore the lost contractual equilibrium.
The significance of this study lies in its engagement with one of the most complex contemporary issues arising from the comprehensive digitalization of transactions. It seeks to ground emerging technical concepts, such as digital najash and algorithmic deception, within established jurisprudential rules, while offering an analytical reading of the adequacy of Algerian legal texts, particularly Law 09-03 and Law 18-05, in securing the consumer’s “digital consent” and protecting rights closely attached to the person in an environment where direct material and sensory inspection is absent.
The problem of the study revolves around a central question concerning the extent to which Algerian legislation and jurisprudential rules are capable of formulating an integrated “consumer security protocol” that protects the electronic consumer from forms of digital domination and the dispossession of will. It also examines how jurisprudential guarantees, such as legally recognized options, can address the ethical and procedural gaps that may remain within rigid statutory texts.
The study reached several findings, the most significant of which is that virtual consumer security cannot be achieved through criminal deterrence alone, but through its integration with jurisprudential guarantees that provide “preventive” protection through moral restraint and “subsequent” protection through the system of options, including inspection, stipulation, and defect. These guarantees constitute the most flexible instrument for remedying harm suffered by the digitally “trusting” consumer. The study also demonstrated that Algerian legislation has achieved a significant qualitative shift in confronting technical dependency; however, it remains in constant need of drawing upon universal jurisprudential maxims in order to legally characterize emerging forms of fraud and deception in cyberspace.