The Governance of Privacy: Policy Instruments in Global Perspective by Colin J. Bennett, Charles D. Raab

From the Publisher

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.

William H. Dutton

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.

Paul M. Schwartz

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.

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• Table of Contents

Table of Contents