Privacy Weekend

Needless to say, the document most of us are reading now is the 209-page General Data Protection Regulation, just agreed upon by the institutions of the European Union.  A few parts are quite a page-turner.  (Parental consent for under-16s to access the Internet? Srsly?)  But even with this scintillating read, we find ourselves reaching for something a bit less, well, dense.

This weekend we can do that without ever leaving the EU-US comparative mindset.  Professors Ken Bamberger and Deirdre Mulligan of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology have just published a groundbreaking work called Privacy on the Ground: Driving Corporate Behavior in the United States and Europe (MIT Press).  The book, which expands on the authors’ groundbreaking 2011 article, is based on empirical research that focuses not on what the law says in the EU and the U.S., but how privacy is actually practiced under five countries’ laws – the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, and Spain.  In findings that will be surprising and counterintuitive to some of our European colleagues, Ken and Deirdre find that the strongest privacy management practices are found in the United States and Germany.  That’s right – stronger practices in the U.S. than in France, Spain and the U.K.  I’m looking forward to the European reviews!  And to digging into the details.
Continue Reading Privacy Weekend: Provocative Articles We’re Reading Now

As readers of the InsidePrivacy blog know, we often save some fun reading on privacy issues for the weekend, given the crush of business during the week. This week, we’re up for some digital magazine reading. It’s refreshing when privacy issues burst into the mainstream consciousness, and we have two great examples of that this week — robotics in Foreign Affairs, and the Internet of Things in Politico.
Continue Reading Privacy Weekend: Provocative Articles We’re Reading Now

As readers of the InsidePrivacy blog know, we often save some fun reading on privacy issues for the weekend, given the crush of business during the week.  Sure, you’re reading the FTC’s just‑released Internet of Things report (and hopefully Shel’s helpful analysis of it), but a little broader reading might be just right for our (somewhat) snowy weekend.

At the top of my list for this weekend is Neil Richards’ new book, Intellectual Privacy: Rethinking Civil Liberties in the Digital Age.  This book follows up on Neil’s great law review article of the same name, but develops and updates the arguments, examples and use cases.  The subject of the work is the conflict between privacy and free expression, one of the most important issues in our area of law and policy.  Topics such as the “right to be forgotten” place this issue squarely into today’s headlines.  Neil suggests that free speech should win out in the event of a true conflict between the two values, but concludes that true conflicts are exceedingly rare.  It is more likely that privacy should be seen as a precondition for the exercise of free speech — without some assurance that privacy rights will be honored, individuals will not speak freely.  It’s a great premise with which I agree, and one that I look forward to thinking more about.  And if you’re in New York on Monday and can stop by the book launch sponsored by Data & Society, you can ask Neil about it!
Continue Reading Privacy Weekend: Provocative Articles We’re Reading Now

As readers of the InsidePrivacy blog know, we often save some fun reading on privacy issues for the weekend, given the crush of business during the week.  The past couple of weeks have been a challenging time for the Internet, though, and our thoughts have turned to the darker side of anonymity and privacy.  The scourge of the so-called #GamerGate movement has resulted in stunning threats of violence against women in the gaming community, causing Brianna Wu and Zoe Quinn to leave their homes after a barrage of threats, and media critic Anita Sarkeesian being forced to cancel a public presentation because of a death threat.  Civility online is under siege, and cyberthreats against women seem to be escalating.  Can anything be done?

Fortunately, Maryland law professor Danielle Citron’s new book, Hate Crimes in Cyberspace, has arrived at just the right moment.  Danielle’s work provides a thorough exposition of the problem and clear-minded thinking about potential solutions.  It’s the perfect weekend reading for those, like this writer, who feel a need to find solutions and restore hope in the potential of online discourse.  If you haven’t picked up Danielle’s book yet, there are excellent reviews of it here and here.  It is insightful and thoughtful, and a wonderful contribution to our thinking on these essential issues.
Continue Reading Privacy Weekend: Provocative Articles We’re Reading Now

After a particularly long work week, curling up with a law-review article can seem a little daunting for weekend reading.  So for this weekend, I’ve been saving up some really promising magazine articles — short, concise, entertaining, and full of terrific information about privacy.  Here are a few ideas that might make for bite-size reading on a nice autumn afternoon:…
Continue Reading Privacy Weekend: Provocative Articles We’re Reading Now

It’s shaping up to be a big data weekend, for those of us who try to find some interesting weekend reading away from the crush of the day-to-day schedule.  If you’re thinking about Monday’s FTC workshop on the impact of big-data analytics on vulnerable communities, a bit of weekend reading about the intersection between technology…

In the day-to-day rush of work, it can be tough to find time during the week for interesting reading that invigorates our thinking about privacy.  If you’re like us and enjoy lining up a little bit of provocative reading for the weekend, you might think about taking a look here:

  • Star Berkeley privacy professor Chris

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