The Governance of Privacy: Policy Instruments in Global Perspective / Edition 2

by Colin J. Bennett, Charles Raab

Overview

Analyzes privacy policy instruments available to contemporary industrial states, from government regulations and transnational regimes to self-regulation and privacy enhancing technologies.

Privacy protection, according to Colin Bennett and Charles Raab, involves politics and public policy as much as it does law and technology. Moreover, the protection of our personal information in a globalized, borderless world means that privacy-related policies are inextricably interdependent. In this updated paperback edition of The Governance of Privacy , Bennett and Raab analyze a broad range of privacy policy instruments available to contemporary advanced industrial states, from government regulations and transnational regimes to self-regulation and privacy-enhancing technologies. They consider two possible dynamics of privacy regulation—a "race to the bottom," with competitive deregulation by countries eager to attract global investment in information technology, versus "a race to the top," with the progressive establishment of global privacy standards.

Bennett and Raab begin by discussing the goals of privacy protection, the liberal and individualist assumptions behind it, and the neglected relationship between privacy and social equity. They describe and evaluate different policy instruments, including the important 1995 Directive on Data Protection from the European Union, as well as the general efficacy of the "top-down" statutory approach and self-regulatory and technological alternatives to it. They evaluate the interrelationships of these policy instruments and their position in a global framework of regulation and policy by state and non-state actors. And finally, they consider whether all of this policy activity at international, national, and corporate levels necessarily means higher levels of privacy protection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262524537
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	05/11/2006
Series:	The MIT Press
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	382
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.76(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Colin Bennett is Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. He is the author of The Privacy Advocates: Resisting the Spread of Surveillance (MIT Press, 2008) and coauthor (with Charles Raab) of The Governance of Privacy: Policy Instruments in Global Perspective (updated paperback edition, MIT Press, 2006).


Charles Raab is Professor of Government in the School of Social and Political Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Privacy Goals: The privacy paradigm
Privacy protection as social policy
Privacy protection: promoting trust and managing risk. Policy Instruments: Transnational policy instruments
Legal instruments and regulatory agencies
Self-regulatory instruments
Technological instruments. Policy Impacts: Privacy regimes
The evaluation of impact
International privacy protection: a race to the top, the bottom, or somewhere else?
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Paul Schwartz

A tour de force. In this book, two political scientists present the result of a decade of scrutiny of information privacy regulatory practices. It also offers an extremely insightful analysis of different dimensions of information privacy laws in different countries.

David Flaherty

The Governance of Privacy is required reading for those of us seriously concerned about the politics of privacy and data protection in the global information age.

Anne Carblanc

A fresh and direct approach to the issues at stake, leaving the reader with the recognition that privacy protection is indissolubly bound up with social and economic policy issues of modern society.

Richard Thomas

Regulating privacy and data protection must be focused on outcomes, not mindless legal compliance. More and more private and public organizations are recognizing the sensitivity and importance of the issues. This wide-ranging and thought-provoking book guides policy makers and regulators to identify and elaborate the outcomes which need to be pursued. It is also a stimulating resource for others who want or need to wrestle with rationale, method, and result.

Endorsement

The Governance of Privacy is required reading for those of us seriously concerned about the politics of privacy and data protection in the global information age.

—David Flaherty, former Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia

From the Publisher

A fresh and direct approach to the issues at stake, leaving the reader with the recognition that privacy protection is indissolubly bound up with social and economic policy issues of modern society.

—Anne Carblanc, OECD, Paris

A tour de force. In this book, two political scientists present the result of a decade of scrutiny of information privacy regulatory practices. It also offers an extremely insightful analysis of different dimensions of information privacy laws in different countries.

—Paul Schwartz, Brooklyn Law School

Unavoidable for all those interested in the architecture of privacy protection and in using it to better preserve and enhance our privacy.

—Peter Hustinx, European Data Protection Supervisor

Regulating privacy and data protection must be focused on outcomes, not mindless legal compliance. More and more private and public organizations are recognizing the sensitivity and importance of the issues. This wide-ranging and thought-provoking book guides policy makers and regulators to identify and elaborate the outcomes which need to be pursued. It is also a stimulating resource for others who want or need to wrestle with rationale, method, and result.

—Richard Thomas, Information Commissioner

This book should be required reading for any serious student or practitioner concerned about the privacy of personal information in our globally networked society.

—William H. Dutton, Director, Oxford Internet Institute

The Governance of Privacy is required reading for those of us seriously concerned about the politics of privacy and data protection in the global information age.

—David Flaherty, former Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia

William H. Dutton

This book should be required reading for any serious student or practitioner concerned about the privacy of personal information in our globally networked society.

Peter Hustinx

Unavoidable for all those interested in the architecture of privacy protection and in using it to better preserve and enhance our privacy.

Editorial Reviews

Based on years of research on privacy issues, Colin Bennett and Charles Raab have written an authoritative synthesis of the technical, cultural and policy interactions that are shaping the standards governing privacy round the world. This book should be required reading for any serious student or practitioner concerned about the privacy of personal information in our globally networked society.

Paul M. Schwartz

Sophisticated, richly informative, highly analytical, and closely argued, "The Governance of Privacy" is required reading for those of us seriously concerned about the politics of privacy and data protection in the global information age.

William H. Dutton

'...required reading for those of us seriously concerned about the politics of privacy and data protection in the global information age.' David H. Flaherty, formerly Information and Privacy Commissioner, British Columbia, Canada 'A tour de force. In this book, two political scientists present the results of their last decade of scrutiny of information privacy regulatory practices...This book also offers an extremely insightful analysis among different dimensions of information privacy laws in different countries.' Paul M. Schwartz, Brooklyn Law School, USA '...should be required reading for any serious student or practitioner concerned about the privacy of personal information in our globally networked society.' William H. Dutton, Oxford Internet Institute, UK '...a fresh and direct approach to the issues at stake...They leave the reader with the recognition that privacy protection is indissolubly bound up with social and economic policy issues of modern society.' Anne Carblanc, Principal Administrator, OECD '...Bennett and Raab's book deserves to be sidely read. It offers the most careful analysis we have of the range of actors involved and the tools in use in the governance of privac both nationally and globally. The book sets out more clearly than previous writings just how coercive state regulation is...' Public Administration 'For readers who want to begin thinking about privacy critically this is a fine place to start. The text is thorough in its coverage and citation...What is refreshingly absent is the ad nauseam recounting of privacy debacles or episodes that pepper so many of the other works in the area...several chapters would serve as excellent reading in any course related to information privacy, information policy, information ethics, etc...' Journal of Information Ethics

From the Publisher