The Italian perspective of the right to oblivion

This paper gives a brief overview of the state of the art relating to the right to oblivion in Italy. Three major issues on the way this right is perceived, recognized and protected are presented. First, the strict link between the right to oblivion and the right to information is discussed. Then, the role of the internet revolution in enlarging the protection to different situations related to the right to oblivion is analyzed. Finally, a reflection on the distinction between the right to oblivion and the right to data protection and specifically from the right to erasure, anonymization or blocking of data that have been processed unlawfully is drafted.     

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.     

The future of privacy certification in Europe: an exploration of options under article 42 of the GDPR

The EU faces substantive legislative reform in data protection, specifically in the form of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). One of the new elements in the GDPR is its call to establish data protection certification mechanisms, data protection seals and marks to help enhance transparency and compliance with the Regulation and allow data subjects to quickly assess the level of data protection of relevant products and services. To this effect, it is necessary to review privacy and data protection seals afresh and determine how data protection certification mechanisms, seals or marks might work given the role they will be called to play, particularly in Europe, in facilitating data protection. This article reviews the current state of play of privacy seals, the EU policy and regulatory thrusts for privacy and data protection certification, and the GDPR provisions on certification of the processing of personal data. The GDPR leaves substantial room for various options on data protection certification, which might play out in various ways, some of which are explored in this article.     

Public preferences and the challenge to genetic research policy

Modern genetic research requires scientists to collect, store, and study DNA samples and health information from thousands of people. Longstanding policy allows researchers to use samples and information without a person''s informed consent as long as the person''s identity is protected. Under existing policy, researchers must neither disclose study results to interested research participants nor compensate people who contribute to genetic research. Research and ethics experts developed these policy approaches without input from the people whose contributions are essential to the genetic research enterprise. A growing body of evidence shows that many research participants and would-be participants disagree with the current policy approaches. For ethical and practical reasons, participants should have a greater role in determining how genetic research is conducted.     

中国犯罪记录制度的体系化构建——当前司法改革中裁判文书网络公开的忧思

刑事裁判文书公开经历了从不公开到有限公开再到当前的全面实名网络公开三个阶段,成为近期司法改革的重点和标志。犯罪人的身份信息兼具公共属性和私权性质,而当前司法改革未能准确把握其法律性质和法律评价,在制度设计时,忽视了对犯罪人隐私权的保护,混淆了规范性评价和非规范性评价各自的特征和功能,使刑事裁判文书公开的正当性出现了欠缺,不仅削弱了刑事裁判文书公开应有的促进司法完善的效果,而且成为未来的中国犯罪记录制度建构的重大阻碍,成为刑事法治完善进程中的不和谐因素。尽快对当前刑事裁判文书网络化公开的改革举措进行调整,在公布的刑事裁判文书中隐匿犯罪人的姓名,并以此为契机,推动中国犯罪记录制度的建构,是未来司法改革完善的重要工作。     

E-Government users’ privacy and security concerns and availability of laws in Dubai

The purpose of the study was to review privacy and security concerns and their impact on e-government adoption in Dubai. The research analyzed the literature on e-government, security and privacy concerns of e-government adoption and the legislative provision relating to privacy and security protection. A survey on e-government user concerns on privacy, security and ease of use was also carried out. The data for the survey in this research were collected from 190 respondents in Dubai. The results of the analysis revealed that perceived security, privacy and perceived ease of use were important constructs in e-government adoption. The analysis of legal framework showed that the Federal Constitution, the Penal Code, the new Data Protection Act and the Computer Crime Act could be used to address various privacy and security concerns. Thus, it is important that the policy makers facilitate an appropriate awareness campaign of the existence of both information privacy and security to attract more participation towards the e-government services.     

Public affairs,privacy, and family stress: a case study in rural northern Sweden in the mid-nineteenth century

This article is a case study based on court records. What seems initially to be a petty theft gives rise to remarkable events. Affairs that are initially private later become public. Various events in and around the court throw light upon the way court and community respond to family stress in a mid-nineteenth century rural northern Swedish community. Testimonies by a large number of witnesses in court reveal a society in transition with elements of a money market, which means here a huge amount of ready money in circulation and arenas ready to shelter private transactions.     

Human Rights Watch v Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Victim Status,Extraterritoriality and the Search for Principled Reasoning

In Human Rights Watch v Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office the UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal found that the relevant standard of ‘victim status’ that applies in secret surveillance cases consists in a potential risk of being subjected to surveillance and that the European Convention on Human Rights does not apply to the surveillance of individuals who reside outside of the UK. This note argues that the Tribunal's finding regarding the victim status of the applicants was sound but that the underlying reasoning was not. It concludes that the Tribunal's finding on extraterritoriality is unsatisfactory and that its engagement with the European Court of Human Rights case law on the matter lacked depth. Finally, the note considers the defects of the Human Rights Watch case, and the case law on extraterritoriality more generally, against the backdrop of the place of principled reasoning in human rights adjudication.     

犯罪学应当研究人肉搜索的规制之道

目前,人肉搜索在揭露腐败、打击犯罪方面起到了一定作用,同时也引发了诸多侵权事件。当前,最令人忧虑的是人肉搜索已经变成一场没有规则的"游戏",基本上处于失控的状态。使用人肉搜索涉及国家利益、社会公共安全和个人信息的保护。对人肉搜索并不能简单地作出"放"或者"禁"的结论,对人肉搜索应当在疏导的前提下予以规范。犯罪学等各方面的力量应当携手并肩,在优势互补中共同探寻人肉搜索的规制之道。