Data Protection anno 2014: How to Restore Trust?

We live in an era in which privacy and data protection are daily news items.

This tendency demonstrates that privacy and data protection are taken seriously in wide circles of our society. Most of the time, however, issues relating to privacy and data protection are not newsworthy because these rights have been so well protected. It is the scandals that make the news, the latest example being the NSA affair which has dominated the news for months.

These news stories create a feeling of discomfort and lead to diminishing trust – diminishing trust of citizens in companies they deal with, in their governments, in supranational entities such as the European Union, in the law, and diminishing trust between countries.

This book defines the restoration of this trust in relation to privacy and data protection as the most pressing challenge. It reflects on the state of play in the area of privacy and personal data protection in Europe and the United States at the start of 2014. The authors discuss the issues from different perspectives, such as constitutional values and the role of the judiciary, the role of the legislator and independent control, and transatlantic relations.

This volume collects contributions of a large number of outstanding academic scholars, legal practitioners, regulators and politicians from Europe as well as the United States. All contributions are written in honour of Peter Hustinx, the first European Data Protection Supervisor who will step down in 2014, after ten successful years in office and after a long and impressive career in the area of privacy and data protection.

A recommended read for everyone interested in privacy and data protection and more generally in the complex relations between law and the information society.