The Research Handbook on Privacy and Data Protection Law provides an incisive and timely examination of the major standards and challenges of current privacy and data protection law. It is part of Edward Elgar's series, Research Handbooks in Information Law. This volume analyzes the growing international importance of privacy law while elucidating several of the more complex issues associated with this constantly evolving area. In many instances, the chapter essays go on to provide insightful and innovative suggestions for ways society can act to ensure privacy rights are better protected in light of today's fast-emerging technology.
All three editors of this compilation are faculty at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. Chapter contributors include fellow academics based primarily in Europe, but also scholars from Canada, Japan, and the United States, along with a few legal practitioners and one judge. In the introduction, the editors state that this is not a book about Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), although they acknowledge that a significant amount of the text is concerned with it. All the essays are well-written and organized and include extensive references.
The handbook is organized into three parts. Part I, “Geographical Perspectives,” discusses privacy and data protection laws and related issues in the context of various global jurisdictions. The first chapters introduce European law, focusing on the GDPR and post-Brexit data protection. Discussions then move to an explanation of US law and comparisons between privacy and data protection in the US and the EU. The final three chapters address legal issues surrounding data protection in Canada, Japan, and Latin America. Although several nations outside the EU receive coverage in this part, the majority of the text, like the rest of the book, takes a predominantly European view.
Part II, “Inter- and Trans-Disciplinary Perspectives on Privacy and Data Protection,” moves beyond strictly legal discussions to explore societal issues related to privacy values. For example, contributor Pricilla Regan explains that privacy issues go beyond individual concerns and affect entire societies and economic systems. Jo Pierson stresses the need to analyze the formation and operation of digital communication platforms to determine their impact on privacy and data protection. He then sets out several ways we could accomplish this. The chapter, “From Law to Engineering” asserts that increasing digitization requires equally advanced digital solutions to protect privacy.
Part III, “Hot Topics in Privacy and Data Protection,” brings together important materials that were not covered in the first two parts of the book. These chapters are generally longer than those in Parts I and II, each of which was relatively short. First, contributor Maja Brkan addresses the role of European courts in data protection, first providing background on the courts’ roles in this area and then analyzing the roles of the Court of Justice of the EU and of the European Court of Human Rights. “Surveillance at the borders” discusses the EU's complex rules for tracking travel of not just EU residents, but of non-Europeans traveling in the EU, as well.
Additional timely topics in Part III, including children's online privacy, and biometric data processing, illustrate ongoing challenges stemming from the law's inability to keep up with technology. The final essay, “Automated decision-making and data protection in Europe,” emphasizes an important fact that we see often in current headlines. Machine rationality and decision-making can be as “biased” as that of humans. The failure to realize and account for this can lead to statistical biases that perpetuate existing inequalities. The author informs us that fortunately, Europe's lawmakers are proactively considering regulations to address this and other technological advances.
In addition to the primary text, the handbook contains a helpful 15-page index. I found it useful for spot checking the level of coverage given to various subjects and for looking up unfamiliar topics to ensure I had a clear understanding of them. Readers who are not experts in all the concepts, abbreviations and terminologies used in the book will find this index to be a valuable tool.
This book effectively addresses a wide range of issues that fall under the constantly evolving and therefore challenging topic of privacy and data protection. The editors achieve their stated goals of illustrating many complexities of privacy and data protection law while also providing a valuable resource for a range of readers, including students. Indeed, although the text addresses intricate and advanced topics, the book remains accessible to students and other non-experts wanting to research or better understand privacy and related topics.
Overall, the Research Handbook on Privacy and Data Protection Law provides an informative and thoughtful combination of education about essential principles, along with carefully curated discussions of subtopics and important interdisciplinary areas. In addition, the writers provide insights as to where we as a global society must focus our efforts going forward to develop and strengthen policies that preserve essential social values and rights. This book would be a worthwhile addition to any library.
