Privacy and Data Protection in Europe: Traditions, Practices, and Discourses

Privacy and data protection hava become contentious political issues. A transnational campaign for better data protection has emerged and gained support over recent years. Fundamental EU regulation is under way to create a harmonized European data protection regime (EU General Data Protection Regulation). However, while the concomitant lobby battles in Brussels and the Snowden revelations have taught us a lot about economic and governmental interests in this new and complex area of the internet governance macrocosm, we know much less about the socio-political reality of privacy and data protection and how it varies across different countries even within the European Union. Lacking such knowledge, the democratic legitimacy of the EU’s efforts in internet governance as well as the chances and pitfalls for an international regulation in general are difficult to assess.

It is against this backdrop that we are planning an international workshop, in order to study the variety of privacy and data protection across Europe. Here is our Call for Papers. For further information please contact Dr. Max-Otto Baumann (max.baumann(at)mill-institut.de) or Dr. Wolf J. Schünemann (wolf.schuenemann(at)ipw.uni-heidelberg.de). The two-day-workshop will take place in Heidelberg at the 26./27. of November 2015 and will be funded by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung.