Protecting Personal Information: The Right to Privacy Reconsidered

Description

The concept of privacy has long been confused and incoherent. The right to privacy has been applied promiscuously to an alarmingly wide-ranging assortment of issues including free speech, political consent, abortion, contraception, sexual preference, noise, discrimination and pornography. The conventional definition of privacy, and attempts to evolve a ‘privacy-as-a-fence’ approach, are unable to deal effectively with the technological advances that have significantly altered the way information is collected, stored and communicated. Social media platforms such as Facebook pose searching questions about the use and protection of personal information and reveal the limits of conceiving the right to privacy as synonymous with data protection. The recent European Union’s GDPR seeks to enforce greater protection of personal information, but the overlap with privacy has further obscured its core meaning. This book traces these troubling developments, and seeks to reveal the essential nature of privacy and, critically, what privacy is not. Preface Acknowledgements Contents Table of Cases Table of Legislation 1. Personal Information and Privacy I. The Genesis II. Defining 'Privacy' III. Privacy and Personal Information IV. A Constitutional Right V. A Way Forward VI. Personal Information 2. Personal Information and Data Protection I. Introduction II. The Association of Data Protection and Privacy III. EU Data Protection Law IV. The European Court of Human Rights V. Conclusion 3. Personal Information and Power I. Introduction II. Genetic Privacy III. National DNA Databases IV. Where is 'Privacy'? 4. Personal Information, Goods and Services I. Introduction II. Digital Robber Barons III. Online Profiling IV. Privacy and Pollsters 5. Personal Information and Freedom I. Introduction II. Anonymity III. Anonymous Remailers IV. Cryptocurrencies V. Sexual Preference VI. Scientific Positivism VII. Genetic Research VIII. Copyright 6. Personal Information and the Media I. Introduction II. Defining the Media III. Collecting and Communicating IV. 'Reasonable Expectation of Privacy' V. Misuse of Personal Information VI. The Public Interest VII. Data Protection 7. Personal Information and Memory I. A Right to History II. Photographs III. Understanding the Past IV. Profiling V. Genetics VI. Privacy 8. Privacy Reconsidered Appendix Index