The concept of privacy has long been confused and incoherent. The right to privacy has been applied promiscuously to an alarmingly wide-ranging assortment of issues including free speech, political consent, abortion, contraception, sexual preference, noise, discrimination, and pornography. The conventional definition of privacy, and attempts to evolve a 'privacy-as-a-fence' approach, are unable to deal effectively with the technological advances that have significantly altered the way information is collected, stored, and communicated. Social media such as Facebook pose searching questions about the use and protection of personal information and reveal the limits of conceiving the right to privacy as synonymous with data protection. The recent European Union's GDPR seeks to enforce greater protection of personal information, but the overlap with privacy has further obscured its core meaning. This book traces these troubling developments, and seeks to reveal the essential nature of privacy and, critically, what privacy is not.

Table Of Contents

1. Personal Information and Privacy 

I. The Genesis 

II. Defining 'Privacy'

III. Privacy and Personal Information 

IV. A Constitutional Right 

V. A Way Forward 

VI. Personal Information 

2. Personal Information and Data Protection 

I. Introduction 

II. The Association of Data Protection and Privacy 

III. EU Data Protection Law 

IV. The European Court of Human Rights 

V. Conclusion 

3. Personal Information and Power 

I. Introduction 

II. Genetic Privacy 

III. National DNA Databases 

IV. Where is 'Privacy'? 

4. Personal Information, Goods and Services 

I. Introduction 

II. Digital Robber Barons 

III. Online Profiling

IV. Privacy and Pollsters 

5. Personal Information and Freedom 

I. Introduction 

II. Anonymity 

III. Anonymous Remailers 

IV. Cryptocurrencies 

V. Sexual Preference 

VI. Scientific Positivism 

VII. Genetic Research 

VIII. Copyright 

6. Personal Information and the Media 

I. Introduction 

II. Defining the Media 

III. Collecting and Communicating 

IV. 'Reasonable Expectation of Privacy' 

V. 'Misuse of Personal Information' 

VI. The Public Interest 

VII. Data Protection 

7. Personal Information and Memory 

I. A Right to History 

II. Photographs 

III. Understanding the Past 

IV. Profiling 

V. Genetics 

VI. Privacy 

8. Privacy Reconsidered