Camera shy – the interaction between the camera and the law of privacy in the UK

Modern man appears to have an insatiable thirst for learning about the private lives of others, and the media is happy to indulge him, constantly informing, updating, educating and entertaining via newspapers, periodicals, radio, television and the Internet. This can pit two competing rights against each other – the right of the individual to personal privacy and the right of the media to freedom of expression. One of the most hotly contested battle grounds in this ongoing war is over the publication of photographs in our celebrity obsessed society. As the battle rages, the nascent law of privacy in the UK is constantly evolving. This paper aims to give an overview of the evolution of the law of privacy in the UK focussing on the way in which these two rights to privacy and freedom of expression compete against each other in the context of photographs.     

Privacy protection as a case study in personal rights protection in Israeli law

Personality rights, by nature, reflect the culture and values of society. Thus, it is interesting to look back on the road that Israeli law has traveled since the early 1980s, when the right to privacy as such had no trace of protection in Israeli private law, through to the present, when it is protected by both the Protection of Privacy Law and the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. Current Israeli case law, which shows that the balance between privacy and free speech in cases of publication of private information leans toward privacy, can be partially explained by historical, religious and cultural reasons. The increased privacy litigation in Israel forms part of an ever-growing protection of other personality rights in Israeli law, thus serving as a good example of this expanding trend.     

Review of employee privacy issues: Implications for law enforcement and other public and private sector agencies

It has been predicted that the number of lawsuits filed for workplace privacy violations will increase over the next few years primarily because of advances in technological innovations and a change in how workplace privacy is defined. This could have implications for law enforcement agencies as well as other public and private sector agencies. This article examines current interpretations of workplace privacy both in the public and private sectors and how courts have traditionally ruled on various types of privacy issues.     

Rating the intrusiveness of law enforcement searches and seizures

This article presents the results of a survey that asked 217 subjects to rate the “intrusiveness” of 50 different types of law enforcement investigative techniques, taken primarily from U.S. Supreme Court cases. Respondents disagreed strongly with many of the assumptions the Court makes about privacy and autonomy. Additionally, three theories are developed to help explain perceptions of intrusiveness.     

Mapping the development of China's data protection law: Major actors,core values,and shifting power relations

This Article seeks to map the possible paths of the development of China's data protection law by examining the changing power relations among three major actors - the State, digital enterprises and the public in the context of China's booming data-driven economy. We argue that focusing on different core values, these three major actors are the key driving forces shaping China's data protection regime. Their dynamic and multidimensional power relations have been casting the development of China's data protection law with various uncertainties. When persuing different, yet not always conflicting values, these three major actors may both cooperate and compete with each other. Based on our careful analysis of the shifting power relations, we identify and assess three possible paths of the development of China's data protection law. We are much concerned that the proposed comprehensive data protection law might be a new attempt of the State to win legitimacy abroad, while actually trying to reinforce massive surveillance besides economic goals. We argue that a modest alternative may be that this law might show some genuine efforts for protecting data privacy, but still with poor enforcement. Last, we argue that the most desirable development would be that this law could provide basic but meaningful and effective protection for data privacy, and lay a good foundation for further development.     

The retention of personal information online: A call for international regulation of privacy law

New technologies permit online businesses to reduce expenses and increase efficiency by, for example, storing information in “the cloud”, engaging in online tracking and targeted advertising, location and tracking technologies, and biometrics. However, the potential for technology to facilitate long term retention of customers' personal information raises concerns about the competing right of individuals to the privacy of their personal information. Although the European Commission has recently released a proposal for regulation to “provide a data subject with the right to be forgotten and to erasure”, neither the OECD Privacy Guidelines nor the APEC Privacy Framework includes any requirement to delete personal information. While New Zealand includes a “limited retention principle” in the Privacy Act 1993, apart from one limited exception the privacy principles cannot be enforced in court. Taking New Zealand privacy law as an example, this paper examines the issue of retention of customer data, explains why this is a serious problem and argues that although it could be addressed by appropriate amendments to domestic laws, domestic privacy legislation may not be sufficient in an online environment. In the same way as other areas of law, such as the intellectual property regime, have turned to global regulatory standards which reflect the international nature of their subject matter, international privacy regulation should be the next stage for the information privacy regime.     

Administrative,legal, and ethical practices in the psychological testing of law enforcement officers

Recently, more law enforcement agencies have chosen to use psychological testing as an important component of their preemployment screening programs. Important legal and ethical issues have been raised by the increased use of psychological testing for this purpose. These issues include the applicant's right to privacy, the validity of the psychological instrument(s) used, the definition of what constitutes an “unsuitable” candidate, and the existence of racial and/or sexual bias. This article presents ten suggestions that address some of these issues and that may aid law enforcement agencies in adopting the spirit of the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures and other psychological-testing standards.     

Privacy law as price control

The median Internet user is concerned about digital advertisers collecting personal information. To address these fears, the European Union passed the Privacy Directive to regulate the common business practice of information collection. This paper investigates the potential effects of this regulation, finding that the law is likely to generate several unintended consequences. Economists and legal scholars acknowledge that personal data serves as the “price” for accessing many digital platforms. I extend this logic to argue that if a regulation enables consumers to stop supplying this information, while continuing to consume the site’s content, it is equivalent to a price control. Next, I discuss unintended consequences that this price control may generate: tie-in sales, investment flight, and altered exchange characteristics. Lastly, I conclude that, just as with traditional price controls, the privacy price control may be a way for government officials to enhance their popularity with the citizenry. In short, my analysis suggests that one of the most well-researched policy interests of economics—the theory of price controls—can shed light on one of economists’ newest interests: digital privacy.     

Privacy and research involving humans

Human research ethics committees in Australia are required to consider compliance with privacy law as an element of the ethics of research. Recent legislation has introduced federal private sector privacy protection, as well as privacy protection at State and Territory levels. In Victoria, which is used as an example in this article, State privacy legislation covers public sector information and health records. This article considers the implications for research involving human participants and for ethics committees of the new privacy regimes. Although privacy law is a potential barrier to research about humans, the need for exceptions has been dealt with effectively in the context of medical or health research. However, privacy law and its chilling effect could potentially be a serious impediment to some forms of non-health-related research, such as social and socio-legal research.     

The human genome: lessons for life, love and the law

In 2003, the Australian Law Reform Commission and the Australian Health Ethics Committee (of the National Health and Medical Research Council) completed a major inquiry into the Protection of Human Genetic Information, focusing on privacy protection; protection against unlawful discrimination based on genetic status; and the establishment and maintenance of high ethical standards. The joint inquiry considered these matters across a wide range of contexts, with the final report, Essentially Yours, making 144 recommendations in such diverse areas as medical research; clinical genetic services; genetic research databases; employment; insurance; immigration; sport; parentage testing; and law enforcement. This article discusses some of the major themes that emerged in the course of the inquiry and underpinned the broad-based strategy adopted to prepare Australia for the challenges of the "New Genetics".     

Reds Need Not Apply: Communism and the FCC, 1940-60

New communication technologies—particularly the Internet—have drastically complicated the problem of preserving privacy. As a result, a multitude of solutions for this increasingly complex area of the law have been put forth in recent years. This essay concludes, however, that changes in technology do not warrant altering the underlying constitutional balance that was arrived at decades ago in the tort law of privacy. The free speech limits on privacy law were imposed for good reason, and steps to protect the interest in the new online environment should not be ones that upset that careful balance.     

德国刑事诉讼法中的证据使用禁止

本文从批判性的视角概述了德国刑事诉讼法中关于证据采纳或者说是关于证据禁止的问题。证据禁止区分为非自主性证据使用禁止和自主性证据使用禁止。非自主性证据使用禁止可能是由于公诉中初步侦查时的取证错误导致的。就是否适用非自主性证据使用禁止这一问题，德国司法官会从几个方面加以考虑，例如，犯罪的严重性或者是取证错误的严重性。自主性证据使用禁止是由于侵犯了个人隐私。例如，私人日记不能作为证据使用。     

A new definition of privacy for the law

The paper begins with a defence of a new definition of privacy as the absence of undocumented personal knowledge. In the middle section, I criticise alternative accounts of privacy. Finally, I show how my definition can be worked into contemporary American Law.     

论隐私权的宪法保护——以自媒体时代为分析背景

自媒体在彰显言论自由之对,也打开了一扇偷窥公民隐私之窗.在宪法视野下,隐私权已经超越部门法的疆域上升为一项基本人权.在自媒体时代,侵犯公民隐私权的特征表现为隐蔽性、侵财性、便捷性和严重性,隐私权的传统法律保护模式遭遇了新的挑战.宪法对公民隐私权加以保护有其合理性与必要性.隐私权的宪法保护路径在于明确隐私权是一项列举的人权,强化违宪审查制度的贯彻执行,并通过部门法落实和实施该项权利,建立一个由宪法统领的、由部门法具体实施的、多层级和全方位的立体保护架构.     

论隐私的法律保护范围

隐私权是自然人人格权的重要内容 ,但并不是所有的隐私都应得到法律的保护 ,法律保护的隐私的范围应严格限定为具有合法性的个人隐私。由于我国现行立法没有对隐私做出具体的规定 ,一方面使得公民的隐私权难以得到充分的法律保护 ;另一方面又有试图将隐私范围扩大化的倾向 ,并使隐私权超出合理的范围而与其他权利相冲突。     

论隐私权的刑法保护

隐私权的刑法保护顺应了我国保护人权的发展趋势;体现了我国刑法由"国家主义"向"人本主义"的转变;符合防治严重侵犯隐私权行为的客观要求.我国刑法典保护隐私权的相关规定缺乏系统性和科学性,具有间接性.建议我国刑法设立"非法获取、散布隐私罪".     

Narratives about privacy and forgetting in English law

This paper examines narratives about the right of privacy in the UK. It argues that until relatively recently the dominant narrative was one that associated privacy with celebrity claimants and media defendants. Other narratives, such as those concerned with digital privacy and data protection, did not feature as prominently. But changing technological and social contexts mean that these narratives are now understood to be of immense importance too. This paper explores these narratives against the backdrop of the European Commission's proposals for a ‘right to be forgotten’ (now relabelled a ‘right to erasure’), the subject-matter of this special issue, as well as the 2014 Google Spain judgment. The paper emphasises the importance of forgetting as an aspect of the right to privacy and argues that while the UK legislator and courts have been slow to give effect to erasure remedies, they must now start exploring the bounds of legal possibility in order to meet the challenges of the digital age.     

网络时代隐私权的法律保护

随着大众传媒的不断发展,侵害公民个人隐私的行为也不断发生,保护公民隐私权已成为我国法学界的共识。我国对公民隐私权的保护还需要在立法上加以完善,同时对隐私权的保护也需要进行一定的限制。     

论劳动者隐私权的法律保护:一个分析框架

以民法为中心的隐私权立法不足以保护劳动者,应构建契合劳动法理念的隐私权保护制度。劳动关系的从属性限制了劳动者隐私权受保护的范围和程度,同时也对雇主提出保护劳动者隐私权的要求。保护劳动者隐私权必须对各种社会利益及其相对重要性进行分析,核心在于实现雇主利益与劳动者隐私权的平衡,其一般标准可以区分为四项原则:职业区分原则;利益衡量原则;最少损害原则;合法限制与合意限制原则。