Doctoral Project: The Exchange of Personal Criminal Data and the Protection of Privacy Rights

Technological innovations have dramatically expanded the ability to use personal data: the ability to collect, edit, compare, distribute, store, process and mine data, which were once extraordinarily time-consuming processes, can now be accomplished instantaneously. Unsurprising, law enforcement agencies in both the EU and the US are taking advantage of new information communication technologies in their criminal investigations, particularly those against terrorists. Consequently, there has been an increase in state control over individuals’ movements, financial standing, behavior, and other personal characteristics important to self-definition. States justify the high levels of data collection and exchange as part of the fight against terrorism. But how will this unbridled exchange of personal criminal data impact privacy rights?

Specifically, this doctoral project seeks to evaluate how individual privacy rights can be protected in the face of rapid advances in technology, divergent regulatory approaches between the EU and the US , and a global war on terror. Taking as a starting point that individual privacy is a highly esteemed notion on both sides of the Atlantic, the project seeks to assess the continued viability of the current legal framework based on an “adequacy” standard and whether there are any alternative frameworks which might safeguard privacy rights more effectively.

Publications

2012

The New EU Proposal To Regulate Data Protection in the Law Enforcement Sector: Raises the Bar But Not High Enough, IRI-memo, Nr. 2/2012, April 2012.

• Curriculum Vitae