PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

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Notable Privacy Books: A Journey Through History

Notable Privacy Books: A Journey Through History

Last week, I had the opportunity to present a talk on “Notable Privacy Books: A Journey Through History” at CPDP.  I discussed many books about privacy from the 1960s to the present. The video of my talk is here. I subsequently created a more complete list of books – 400+ books over the past 70+ years.

Abstract:

In this essay, I discuss notable privacy books from the 1960s to 2020s – seven decades and more than 400 books. I briefly explain why each book is noteworthy. Examining the books chronologically also opens a window into history, as the books reflect the concerns, ideas, and terminology of the times in which they were written. The books also shed light on the discourse about privacy, which has evolved over the decades. In the past few decades, attention to privacy issues has significantly increased, and the number of books has proliferated. The books involve many perspectives, fields, and approaches: philosophical, journalistic, sociological, legal, literary, anthropological, political, empirical, psychological, and historical.

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Webinar: The New Anatomy of Health Privacy Law Blog

Webinar: The New Anatomy of Health Privacy Law Blog

Health privacy law is currently a vast, complicated, and changing landscape of many different laws. This webinar focused on this landscape and  covered HIPAA and the various state privacy laws that involve health data.

Speakers include:

 

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Privacy Program Topics

Privacy Program Topics

Navigating the evolving landscape of privacy can be daunting – so many different laws on different topics.

I recently created a whiteboard (1-page visual summary) to depict the breadth and complexity of this landscape.Privacy Training Topics Whiteboard

Download my new whiteboard on Privacy Program Topics.

It’s free!

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These days, privacy training is too complex to not be created by an expert. Unfortunately, I see many attempts by general training vendors to create privacy training – but the results are bad and incomplete.
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Privacy and AI Deregulation is the Wrong Answer

Privacy and AI Deregulation is the Wrong Answer

Recently, we’ve been witnessing the rapid spread of a deregulatory movement for privacy and AI. Spurred in significant part by the Trump Administration, the U.S. has started to deregulate technology. The EU has caught the virus and has been contemplating weaking its regulation as well. As Luiza Jarovsky notes, some policymakers in the EU are aiming to “simplify” the GDPR and are increasingly being lured by the siren cries of tech companies complaining about EU regulation. For example, the Draghi Report (Sept. 2024) complains that EU privacy and AI regulations “create the risk of European companies being excluded from early AI innovations” and recommends “light-handed rules.” In a terrific piece, Europe Could Lose What Makes It Great, Anu Bradford, R. Daniel Kelemen, and Tommaso Pavone fear that “the EU seems poised to trade away its leverage as a global regulatory superpower.”

AI Companies – Please Regulate Us . . . Actually, Please Don’t

In 2023, AI company CEOs welcomed regulation. They wanted to ameliorate concerns that AI was developing so quickly and recklessly. But now, their true colors have been revealed. Now that the winds have shifted toward deregulation, these companies have changed their tune. Like nearly all companies, they never really wanted to be regulated; they just wanted to create the illusion that were being responsible and the mirage that there were guardrails.

When the AI companies initially called for regulation, I wasn’t fooled, and so I created a cartoon.

Cartoon AI CEO Regulate - TeachPrivacy Training

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Debunking the Privacy Myths – Free Excerpt from ON PRIVACY AND TECHNOLOGY

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I’ve posted free on SSRN an excerpt from my new book, ON PRIVACY AND TECHNOLOGY.  The excerpt debunks the myths that impede effective privacy regulation.

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If you’re interested in reading the whole book, you can buy at at the following places:

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Privacy in 2025

Privacy in 2025

Discover what’s next for privacy in 2025! Here are some resources on future privacy laws during potential political changes.

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Webinar: GDPR Enforcement, Trump 2.0,

and Max Schrems

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In this webinar, I discuss the future of EU-US data transfers amid US political changes, GDPR enforcement, and class actions in the EU with Max Schrems.

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Webinar – Privacy, DOGE, and Trump 2.0 Blog

Webinar - Privacy, DOGE, and Trump 2.0 Blog

In this webinar, Daniel Solove talks with Mark Lemley, Mario Trujillo and Alexandra Reeve Givens about privacy law issues involved with DOGE and Trump Administration activities.

Speakers include:

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Quotes from On Privacy and Technology

On Privacy and Technology - Selected Quotations

My new book, ON PRIVACY AND TECHNOLOGY, discusses my reflections on 25 years of studying privacy and how privacy law and policy need a radical rethink to protect privacy in today’s age of AI.

My book addresses a key question for our times: Can privacy law keep up with rapidly changing digital technologies, such as AI? 

I argue that the law can do so, but it must stop putting the onus on individuals to manage their privacy. In the digital age, individuals can’t protect themselves and can’t control their data. Policymakers must stop treating technology differently from everything else. Instead, they must hold the creators and users of technology accountable.

We’re now facing a deregulatory turn with technology, and my book pushes back: We need more regulation, not less. But the regulation must take a radically new direction.

Below, I am sharing a few key quotations from the book.

QUOTE On Privacy and Technology - Solove 06 JPG

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