interview with dr Matthias Maslaton, ARAG Board Member for Sales, Product and Innovation
ARAG opened up a new market ten years ago: it insures private customers for all aspects of digital life. The business is constantly growing.
You were the first insurance company to introduce cyber protection for private customers around ten years ago. How has the business developed since then?
When we launched “ARAG [email protected]“ started, there were already cyber insurances for the trade. At that time, we primarily wanted to create protection against cyberbullying and thought particularly of vulnerable children and young people. If they are vilified on social media, that should be able to be deleted.
Over the years, we have continuously expanded our protection for digital life, for example with cover for financial losses that arise from fraud in online shops, for example. We now also insure damage to electronic devices such as notebooks and PCs, offer daily monitoring of sensitive data on the network and cover the whole family with our offer. Sales are fairly constant, we sell an average of around 1,000 insurance policies per month and thus have around 80,000 policies in stock.
Are customers now more sensitive to the risks on the Internet or do they trust their protection, according to the motto “the insurance company will take care of it”?
Of course there are still both. However, as ARAG, we also clearly see it as our role to continuously provide information about the dangers on the Internet via a wide variety of channels – for example through our campaign www.hass-streich.de. For example, at one of our conferences on cyberbullying, an Australian researcher suggested that every child should also complete a training course and test for an internet driver’s license, similar to that for a swimming pass. Schools are preparing children for some dangers, and parents have also become more sensitive, but unfortunately cyberbullying remains a big issue. ARAG is very active here and has also offered conflict management in schools since 2013. This is an extensive qualification program that also addresses digital violence in schools in particular. In addition, however, Internet fraud is also developing rapidly. The classic fraudulent emails in which a bank asks for the password hardly work anymore today. In the past ten years, however, the fake mails have become more and more professional. They usually catch people in the moments when they are inattentive or distracted.
In your opinion, should the protection against cyberbullying be more strongly regulated by law? For example, should certain minimum standards or rules be introduced for platforms or PC games?
We have a legal framework that was tightened again only by the last federal government. Ultimately, the decisive factor is the extent to which the police and the judiciary accept the reality of life on the Internet. In North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, the special public prosecutor’s office in Cologne has proven to be a very effective unit. In addition, the portal operators no longer take the mobbing attacks lightly. In our experience, the widespread platforms such as Facebook and Instagram delete insults quite quickly when they are pointed out. We initially work with service providers such as “Deingute Ruf” (Your Good Reputation). Around 90 percent of cases can be settled in this first stage. In most cases, it also helps to talk about the effects of bullying. But we also have cases in which bullying, for example against students on the Internet, quickly stops and unfortunately it continues unabated in the classroom. Sometimes the only thing that helps is a letter from a lawyer before it really stops. That applies to students as well as to adults – after all, it is a matter of criminal offenses on the Internet. In addition, the poison on the web follows victims practically everywhere and sticks constantly.
It is not easy to handle when the platforms are hosted in countries with less strictly regulated internet markets and are designed to spread hate speech. However, this has so far been relatively rare. Public figures, whom we deliberately do not insure, are also more difficult to protect against attacks, since the courts attach much greater importance to protecting freedom of expression than in the case of private individuals.
How has the pandemic and the resulting increase in working from home affected your insurance?
Sales of our internet protection continued as before. Parents in particular continue to become aware of the dangers on the Internet again and again due to the careless handling of their children with information on the Internet or with computer games. Incidentally, we do not sell most cyber policies via Internet portals, as one might expect, but via our ARAG sales partners, who are in personal contact with the customers – and thus the parents who are potentially affected.
According to your observation, what dangers on the Internet will increase in the future?
Currently, bullying is escalating in the course of video games. Unlike the written exchange on social media, the stream chats are very direct. Incidentally, this is where we start with the “For a Good Game” initiative, including with our eSports cooperation partner SK Gaming. Because the psychological consequences are particularly hard here – for adults, but especially for children and adolescents. Criminal charges and injunctive relief alone cannot make up for the psychological damage. We therefore bid over [email protected] also offers immediate psychological help over the phone for everything to do with cyberbullying. A lot can be caught in this way.
But the dispute between couples after a breakup is also spreading online. It’s about intimate photos or other slurs, for example. In such conflict situations, we were able to help, for example, with the included meditation.
When our internet policy was launched, children were often accused of illegally downloading films or music – and the associated help to defend themselves against it. With new platforms such as Apple or Amazon Music, a lot has now become legal here. However, there are still cases in which a customer or his children have to defend themselves against alleged copyright infringements. Accordingly, our services are often used here in order to defend themselves against this. A common practice is the unauthorized use of copyrighted photos in a post or listing for sale on eBay.
This means that the issue of cyberbullying will keep your insurance company busy for a long time to come….
The topic affects everyone at some point in the long term because it has become a phenomenon affecting society as a whole. We therefore continue to anticipate strong demand for such insurance solutions. A study from 2017 expects a market of around 26 billion euros by 2036 just for the German-speaking countries. We are proud to have recognized the need and opened up this market.
The interview was conducted by Sabine Haupt
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