The essay investigates the digital vulnerability of the elderly as a paradigmatic expression of the tension between private autonomy, cognitive capacity, and the manipulation of online contractual flows. The author retraces the evolution of the civil law notion of the person – from the ‘weak subject’ to the ‘vulnerable person’ – showing how the latter should be understood not as a fixed condition but as a relational process, embedded in the temporal continuity of experience and the dialogical fabric of existence. In this perspective, the communicative revolution of social media opens a new scenario of epistemic imbalance: manipulation no longer appears as isolated deception but as a pervasive practice of cognitive interference, capable of altering reality representations and influencing the elderly individual’s contractual decisions. The reflection culminates in a proposal to rethink civil law in the light of informational self-determination. The author outlines the figure of the ‘informational fiduciary’ as a private law office entrusted with designing an informational architecture that takes into account the vulnerability of online users.
La vulnerabilità digitale dell’anziano da esposizione al flusso informativo di contrattazione
VINCENZA CONTE
2025
Abstract
The essay investigates the digital vulnerability of the elderly as a paradigmatic expression of the tension between private autonomy, cognitive capacity, and the manipulation of online contractual flows. The author retraces the evolution of the civil law notion of the person – from the ‘weak subject’ to the ‘vulnerable person’ – showing how the latter should be understood not as a fixed condition but as a relational process, embedded in the temporal continuity of experience and the dialogical fabric of existence. In this perspective, the communicative revolution of social media opens a new scenario of epistemic imbalance: manipulation no longer appears as isolated deception but as a pervasive practice of cognitive interference, capable of altering reality representations and influencing the elderly individual’s contractual decisions. The reflection culminates in a proposal to rethink civil law in the light of informational self-determination. The author outlines the figure of the ‘informational fiduciary’ as a private law office entrusted with designing an informational architecture that takes into account the vulnerability of online users.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
