What is “privacy”? The concept of privacy has been elusive to define, but I developed a theory for understanding privacy about 20 years ago. Maria Angel and Ryan Calo recently published a formidable critique of my theory of privacy: Maria P. Angel and Ryan Calo, Distinguishing Privacy Law: A Critique of Privacy as Social Taxonomy, […]
Category: Jurisprudence and Legal Theory
Posts about by Jurisprudence and Legal Theory Professor Daniel J. Solove for his blog at TeachPrivacy, a privacy awareness and security training company.
The Three General Approaches to Privacy Regulation
These days, the debate about a federal comprehensive privacy law is buzzing louder than ever before. A number of bills are floating around Congress, and there are many proposals for privacy legislation by various groups, organizations, and companies. As proposals to regulate privacy are debated, it is helpful to distinguish between three general approaches to […]
The Usefulness of Legal Scholarship
A reader of my post about the N.Y. Times critique of legal education writes, in regard to the value of legal scholarship:
The Relationship Between Theory and Practice
The longstanding attacks on legal scholarship all seem to assume a particular relationship between theory and practice, one that I believe is flawed. Recently, I responded to one such critique. There are others, with Justice Roberts and many other judges and practitioners claiming that legal scholarship isn’t worth their attention and isn’t useful to the […]
On the New York Times and Legal Education
Much has already been written about David Segal’s article in the N.Y. Times, What They Don’t Teach Law Students: Lawyering. I join the strong critiques of this piece in condemning it as a lousy piece of journalism — more of a one-sided hack job, riddled with errors. It belongs on the op-ed page of a […]
An Interview with Lior Strahilevitz about Information and Exclusion
Lior Strahilevitz, Deputy Dean and Sidley Austin Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School recently published a brilliant new book, Information and Exclusion (Yale University Press 2011). Like all of Lior’s work, the book is creative, thought-provoking, and compelling. There are books that make strong and convincing arguments, and these are good, […]
Rethinking the Concept of “Personally Identifiable Information” (PII)
Professor Paul Schwartz (Berkeley Law School) and I have just posted our new article to SSRN: The PII Problem: Privacy and a New Concept of Personally Identifiable Information, 86 N.Y.U. L. Rev. — (forthcoming Nov. 2011). Here’s the abstract:
Losing Our Religion
I thoroughly enjoyed Jack Balkin’s Constitutional Redemption, and I found myself largely in agreement with many of Jack’s major claims. But overall, I find it hard to share his optimism. At its core, Balkin’s constitutional jurisprudence is one founded upon faith — a faith in redemption. He concludes his book with the following paragraph (SPOILER […]
New Privacy Law Reference Book: Privacy Law Fundamentals
Professor Paul Schwartz (Berkeley School of Law) and I recently published a new book, PRIVACY LAW FUNDAMENTALS. This book is a distilled guide to the essential elements of U.S. data privacy law. In an easily-digestible format, the book covers core concepts, key laws, and leading cases.
How to Fix the Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Process
There are few defenders of the Supreme Court Justice confirmation process. Every time it occurs, we go through a charade of hearings, where candidates are coy about their positions on most issues and talk about “neutrality” and being a mere “umpire.” Who are they kidding? We all know that no judge is neutral or a […]