Data Privacy Law

Watch

• Henry VIII's Data Protection Lesson | Horrible Histories - BBC ↗BBC
• Dangerous apps - In the web of data brokers | DW Documentary ↗DW Documentary
• Srikrishna Panel Submits Draft Data Privacy Bill ↗CNBC-TV18
• The Power of Privacy – documentary film ↗The Guardian

Read

• The Right to PrivacyThis foundational essay, penned by two legal luminaries, articulated the 'right to be let alone,' laying the intellectual groundwork for privacy law in the common law tradition.Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis
• Privacy and Freedom ↗A pioneering work that defined privacy as a fundamental human need and explored its societal functions, offering a crucial conceptual framework for subsequent legal and policy debates.Alan F. Westin
• A Taxonomy of PrivacyThis influential article dissects privacy into distinct categories of harms, providing a much-needed analytical tool for lawyers and policymakers grappling with the complexities of data protection.Daniel J. Solove
• Privacy and Power: The Transatlantic Struggle Over Data Privacy ↗An incisive examination of the divergent approaches to data privacy between the United States and Europe, essential for understanding the global regulatory landscape and its geopolitical implications.Peter Swire and Kenneth Bamberger
• The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power ↗A monumental critique of the economic logic driving pervasive data collection, this work provides the indispensable socio-economic context for understanding the urgency and challenges of contemporary data privacy law.Shoshana Zuboff

Voices to follow

• Daniel J. Solove ↗A prolific scholar and educator, his work provides foundational insights into the complexities of data privacy and security law.Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
• Shoshana Zuboff ↗Her seminal work on "surveillance capitalism" offers a critical framework for understanding the economic and social implications of data exploitation.Professor Emerita, Harvard Business School
• Helen Nissenbaum ↗A leading voice on "contextual integrity," her research reshapes how we conceptualise and protect privacy in the digital age.Professor of Information Science, Cornell Tech
• Frank Pasquale ↗His analyses of algorithmic governance and information power illuminate the legal and ethical challenges posed by opaque data systems.Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School

Glossary

• AnonymizationAnonymization is a process where personal data is changed so much that it can no longer be linked back to a specific individual. This makes it safe to use for research or analysis without revealing identities. For example, a health study might anonymize patient records by removing names and addresses, replacing them with random codes, so the data can be analyzed without identifying anyone.
• ConsentConsent means giving clear permission for someone or an organization to collect, use, or share your personal data. It should be freely given and specific about what you're agreeing to. For example, when a website asks you to click "Accept Cookies" to track your browsing, they are asking for your consent.
• Data BreachA data breach happens when unauthorized people gain access to sensitive or private information. This could be due to a cyberattack or an accident, leading to your personal data being exposed. For example, if a school's computer system is hacked and student names and addresses are stolen, that's a data breach.
• Data ControllerA data controller is the person or organization that decides why and how personal data will be processed. They are responsible for making sure the data is handled correctly and legally. For example, your school is a data controller because it decides what student information to collect (like grades and attendance) and how to use it.
• Data PrivacyData privacy is about making sure your personal information is kept safe and used only in ways you expect or agree to. It's about having control over who sees and uses your digital footprint. For example, when you set your social media profile to "private," you're practicing data privacy by controlling who can see your posts and photos.
• Data SubjectA data subject is simply the person whose personal data is being collected, stored, or processed by an organization. You are a data subject whenever a company has information about you. For example, when you fill out an online form for a competition, you are the data subject because the company is collecting your personal data.
• EncryptionEncryption is like scrambling information using a secret code so that only authorized people with the correct key can read it. It protects data from being understood if it falls into the wrong hands. For example, when you send a message on a secure messaging app, it's often encrypted, meaning only you and the receiver can read it, even if someone else intercepts it.
• Personal DataPersonal data is any information that can be used to identify you, either directly or indirectly. This includes things like your name, email, phone number, or even your location. For example, your school ID number is personal data because it directly links back to you.
• Privacy PolicyA privacy policy is a legal document that explains how a company or website collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal data. It tells you what information they gather and why. For example, before signing up for a new app, you might read its privacy policy to understand how it will use your photos or contacts.
• Right to be ForgottenThe Right to be Forgotten means you can ask search engines or companies to remove certain personal information about you from public view, especially if it's outdated, irrelevant, or harmful. For example, if an old news article about something you did as a child keeps appearing in search results and negatively affects your adult life, you might ask for it to be removed under the Right to be Forgotten.

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Where this connects to other fields, and why it's worth knowing.

• Genetics & DNA Science

  You can protect your own DNA, but you can't speak for your relatives. Police caught the Golden State Killer because a distant cousin uploaded their DNA to a genealogy site. Your genes are partly shared with everyone you're related to, so their choice exposes you.

• Public Health Health

  To stop an outbreak, health officials track who you met and where you went. But that's the exact same tracking a spying government would use to control people. So a pandemic forces a brutal trade: the tools that save lives are the tools that could build a surveillance state, and privacy law has to choose.

• Cryptography & Digital Security Mathematics

  A law can promise "we'll protect your privacy," but promises get broken. Differential privacy does something wilder: it mixes carefully measured random noise into the data, so you can actually prove with math that nobody can spot you. Privacy becomes arithmetic instead of a pinky-swear.

• Statistics & Data Mathematics

  Companies say your data is "anonymous", no name attached. But just four time-and-place stamps (where you were, when) can pick you out of millions with about 95% accuracy. So the whole legal idea of "anonymized data" is basically a comforting fiction.

• Business Models Business

  Privacy laws keep losing, and here's why: for many companies, watching you is the whole business, your clicks and habits are the product they sell. So the urge to spy isn't a glitch to patch, it's built into how they make money.