Technology and Digitalization Law: Addressing Cyber Exploitation and Online Trading

Abstract

Background: The massive digital transformation over the past decade has created new spaces vulnerable to cyber exploitation and illegal online trading in Indonesia. The regulatory gap between existing legal norms and rapidly evolving digital practices poses serious challenges, particularly within the context of Indonesia's normative pluralism. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of technology law policies in addressing cyber exploitation and illegal online trading, while testing the social construction of digital legal awareness among legal actors in Indonesia. Methods: The study employed an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) design grounded in a constructivistinterpretive paradigm. Data were collected through semi-structured indepth interviews, limited participatory observation, and legal document review involving 18 informants comprising cyber exploitation victims, online business actors, law enforcement officers, legal academics, and regulators across Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung. Results: Analysis revealed four interacting superordinate themes. The digital legal awareness gap emerged as the most dominant and pervasive phenomenon, layered across demographic, sectoral, and institutional dimensions, extending beyond individual cognitive deficits. The existing formal legal framework was found inadequate in reaching the lived realities of victims and online business actors. Conclusion: The digital legal gap is a structural product of the misalignment between accelerating technology adoption and the state's regulatory response capacity. This study advocates a paradigm shift from normative-positivistic approaches toward an adaptive digital governance model responsive to the lived experiences of legal actors.