Reconceptualising Information Privacy Law for a Collected World
Chapter 8 of Digital Data Collection and Information Privacy Law (CUP 2020) investigates the issue of what information privacy should protect in a collected world. A critique of the control model is undertaken in relation to five intended outcomes of information privacy law: enhancement of individual autonomy through non-interference protections at the point of data collection; power vacuums that preserve spaces for autonomous decision-making; information privacy law’s mode of transactional operation; the use of privacy policies, as information disclosure mechanisms and in-built balancing mechanisms which seeks to ensure fair outcomes for individuals and data collectors. Julie Cohen’s work is then examined as a means of further critiquing the control model and reshaping a conceptual focus of information privacy based on a more explicit power-related role. The new focus shifts what information privacy seeks to do and challenges the fundamental precepts of the control model and what information privacy currently seeks to protect. The five intended outcomes thus change markedly. At the heart of this reformulated movement, is Cohen’s work on Modulation, which better describes the consequences and challenges that arise from the collected world.
Associate Professor Burdon’s research interests are privacy, information privacy law and the regulation of information security. He has researched on a diverse range of multi-disciplinary projects involving the regulation of information security practices, legislative frameworks for the mandatory reporting of data breaches, data sharing in e-government information frameworks, consumer protection in e-commerce and information protection standards for e-courts. His research with Mark Andrejevic examines the sensorisation of everyday devices leading to the onset of a ‘sensor society’. Mark’s most recent works focuses on the privacy issues that arise from smart homes particularly involving domestic violence reporting and commercial uses of smart home event data.
A full biography can be found here: https://staff.qut.edu.au/staff/m.burdon
About Australian Centre for Private Law Events
The mission of the Australian Centre for Private Law is to foster the development and understanding of the private law through advanced theoretical, doctrinal, empirical and historical research, and the dissemination of that research through education and professional outreach. By supporting the work of its Fellows, the ACPL seeks to promote research in all areas of private law and to establish itself as a research centre of national and international importance. The core initiatives of ACPL are:
Research: To advance a deeper understanding of the structure, principles and policies of the private law through advanced theoretical, comparative, and empirical analysis.
Education: To promote, facilitate and disseminate the results of that research for the benefit of Australia’s social and economic fabric.
Professional Outreach: To engage the judiciary and members of the legal profession in discussion about the values, goals and methods of private law and the respective roles of the judiciary, the legal profession and the academy in the interpretation and reform of private law.
The ACPL embraces all branches of private law, including the law of contract, torts, trusts, equity, property, unjust enrichment, including theoretical and jurisprudential dimensions and contextual applications thereof.
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