Privacy is usually protected in the law through proxies. Often, the law uses as proxies certain ‘containers’ of private life, for instance protection of homes and communication channels, which protect these spaces regardless whether the contents are privacy-sensitive in particular cases. Proxies can also be content-related, protecting the substance of private life and using proxies to capture this substance; for instance, data protection law protects all personal data quapersonal data (even if the data are not privacy-relevant) and protects “sensitive” data using as proxy “special categories of data”, while criminal law protects certain categories of secrets and of confidential communications. Both approaches are useful, but neither can capture privacy perfectly: the proxies are only approximations of privacy, often being both too broad (covering also privacy-irrelevant cases) and too narrow (failing to cover certain privacy-relevant cases). This panel – the first of two panels in the context of Bert-Jaap Koops’s VICI project on ‘Privacy in the 21^stcentury’ – will discuss the different approaches in law to protecting privacy and the pros and cons of ‘container’ and ‘contents’ approaches, applied to contexts of contemporary privacy challenges. 

Keynote Intellectual Property and Innovation

This panel – the second panel in the context of Bert-Jaap Koops’s VICI project on ‘Privacy in the 21^stcentury’ – will discuss challenges of safeguarding privacy in the context of surveillance and criminal investigation. A general challenge is how to distinguish between major and minor privacy intrusions, now that classic yardsticks (such as distinctions between private places and public places, or between inside and outside of the body) have become less meaningful to assess the privacy impact of surveillance activities. More specific challenges are, for example, how to safeguard privacy in contexts of computer searches, covert remote searches, surveillance in public space, and access to data stored with service providers. Every jurisdiction faces these challenges, but they come up with different answers and approaches to address them. Comparative outlooks are fruitful for law-makers and researchers who consider these issues within their own jurisdiction, as examples from different countries and cultures may provide inspiration and inspire out-of-the-box thinking. This panel features three perspectives from different jurisdictions and cultures, illustrated with various technological developments in criminal investigation and surveillance. 

Keynote Data Protection

Keynote Digital Clearinghouse

Keynote AI and Responsibility

Keynote Health and Environment

Keynote Justice and the Data Market