A Comparison of US Privacy Law with the European Union Data Protection Directive

This chapter analyzes the European Union framing of the protection of genetic privacy in the context of the European Commission's 2012 proposal to amend the 95/46/EC Data Protection Directive. This market-driven proposal, fitting a wider European movement with regard to health-related legal framework, takes into account the challenges to privacy protection brought by rapid technological development. Although the proposal is an attempt to clarify the 1995 Data Protection Directive, including the question of genetic data, it also creates some controversial grey areas, especially concerning the extensive regulatory role to be played by the European Commission. With regard to genetic privacy, this chapter takes the opportunity to develop on this paradox, and gives an analysis of the European design on the matter.

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The Second Internet: The Brussels Bourgeois Internet

Four Internets ◽

10.1093/oso/9780197523681.003.0007 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 77-91

Author(s):

Kieron O’Hara

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Public Space ◽

Data Protection ◽

The European Union ◽

Privacy Rights ◽

General Data Protection Regulation ◽

Internet Privacy ◽

Data Protection Directive ◽

General Data ◽

Data Protection Law

This chapter describes the Brussels Bourgeois Internet. The ideal consists of positive, managed liberty where rights of others are respected, as in the bourgeois public space, where liberty follows only when rights are secured. The exemplar of this approach is the European Union, which uses administrative means, soft law, and regulation to project its vision across the Internet. Privacy and data protection have become the most emblematic struggles. Under the Data Protection Directive of 1995, the European Union developed data-protection law and numerous privacy rights, including a right to be forgotten, won in a case against Google Spain in 2014, the arguments about which are dissected. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) followed in 2018, amplifying this approach. GDPR is having the effect of enforcing European data-protection law on international players (the ‘Brussels effect’), while the European Union over the years has developed unmatched expertise in data-protection law.

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Privacy and the European Union: An examination of the provenance and content of the forthcoming data protection directive and its likely impact on UK data protection law

Information & Communications Technology Law ◽

10.1080/13600834.1995.9965726 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 277-299

Author(s):

David Slee

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Data Protection ◽

The European Union ◽

Data Protection Directive ◽

Data Protection Law

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Genetic Privacy

Protecting the Genetic Self from Biometric Threats ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-8153-8.ch012 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 198-222

Author(s):

Elsa Supiot ◽

Margo Bernelin

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Data Protection ◽

Privacy Protection ◽

Technological Development ◽

Genetic Data ◽

Legal Framework ◽

The European Union ◽

Genetic Privacy ◽

Data Protection Directive ◽

Health Related

This chapter analyzes the European Union framing of the protection of genetic privacy in the context of the European Commission's 2012 proposal to amend the 95/46/EC Data Protection Directive. This market-driven proposal, fitting a wider European movement with regard to health-related legal framework, takes into account the challenges to privacy protection brought by rapid technological development. Although the proposal is an attempt to clarify the 1995 Data Protection Directive, including the question of genetic data, it also creates some controversial grey areas, especially concerning the extensive regulatory role to be played by the European Commission. With regard to genetic privacy, this chapter takes the opportunity to develop on this paradox, and gives an analysis of the European design on the matter.

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Cooperation between Financial Intelligence Units in the European Union: Stuck in the middle between the General Data Protection Regulation and the Police Data Protection Directive

New Journal of European Criminal Law ◽

10.1177/2032284420943303 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 351-374

Author(s):

Foivi Mouzakiti

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Data Protection ◽

Information Exchange ◽

The European Union ◽

Significant Information ◽

General Data Protection Regulation ◽

Police Data ◽

Data Protection Directive ◽

General Data ◽

Financial Intelligence

Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) hold a central position in the chain of actors responsible for the monitoring of money movements in the European Union. In support of their role, which is to receive, analyse and disseminate suspicious transaction reports, they have been furnished with significant information processing powers. At present, FIUs feature prominently in the EU’s anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing agendas and plans to further enhance their powers of information exchange are underway. At the same time, however, the legal challenges that arise from their constant empowerment, particularly for the protection of personal data, are being overlooked. This article focuses on the cooperation between FIUs in the EU and argues that the latter takes place under a complex legal framework, which raises significant challenges for data protection. In particular, it highlights the present-day uncertainty over the data protection framework that governs their operations and discusses whether FIUs should be subject to the General Data Protection Regulation or to its law enforcement counterpart, the Police Data Protection Directive. The remaining of the article focuses on the ‘ FIU.net ’ – the decentralized network for information exchanges between EU FIUs – and on the data protection challenges that emerged from the recent integration of this network into Europol.

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