Legal Personhood in European Privacy Protection

Sign up for Susanna Lindroos-Hovinheimo's lecture "Legal Personhood in European Privacy Protection".

Time: March 28, 2.30pm-4pm

Place: Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Common Room (Fabianinkatu 24 A, third floor) / Zoom

Registration ends on March 28, 8am.

The talk will be followed by Sofy ry's annual meeting at 4.15pm.

Abstract:

This paper analyses the philosophical foundations of privacy rights drawing on Foucault, Rancière and Nancy. The key question concerns what it means to be a person according to EU privacy law. In difficult cases, the European courts face the ungrateful task of outlining various aspects of a private person in the connected, digitalised and globalised world. There is no unambiguous definition of privacy to be found in European law or in political philosophy, and the openness of the concept makes it such an interesting instrument in legal regulation. As a result, European case law offers compelling material that can be studied as one index of legal constructions of personhood. The study shows that the legal subject is often understood in European privacy law according to individualistic views of personhood. This is the main critique put forward in the analysis. The paper will also consider alternatives to the individualising tendencies that are present in current privacy and personal data regulation.

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