LW656-G-SP: DATA PROTECTION

Supervisor: Chris Marsden
Contact details: essexdataprotection.blogspot.com
Email: ctmarsden@yahoo.co.uk

Course DescriptionSee the course blog (open to posting by both students and me) at http://essexdataprotection.blogspot.com for the spring course.

This course seeks to introduce students to the complex area of data protection - that is: to the complex system of rules and regulations aimed at protecting individuals (and to a limited extent "legal persons") with regard to the processing of information on them by public and private bodies.
The course will cover:
the history and development of data protection as a concept from the 1970s to now;
the multi-layered international-legal framework for data protection;
selected national data protection laws; and
transnational legal questions, including in particular the application of data protection rules and concepts to the Internet.

In addition, students will be given the opportunity to study the way in which selected public and private data users ("controllers") process personal data in practice, and what measures they take to comply with data protection rules. They are asked to discuss whether practice lives up to the theoretical requirements, whether this is actually achievable under the current national and international legal regime, and what the future can or should hold.
Week 2: Theories of privacy - comparative approaches
Week 3: Directive 1995/46 - How The Legislation Was Introduced
Week 4: Information Commissioners - Guest Speaker Dr Ian Brown
Week 5: Implementation in National Law: Data Protection Act 1998 Example
Week 6: Safe Harbour Provisions
Week 7: Lindquist case - defining 'data controllers'
Week 8: CCTV Cameras and other surveillance techniques
Week 9: Electronic Privacy, Data Retention
Week 10: Conclusion - Futures for Privacy and Trade in Privacy