A Tale of Two Privacy Laws: The GDPR and the International Right to Privacy

Vivek Krishnamurthy

doi:10.1017/aju.2019.79

Abstract

The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is widely viewed as setting a new global standard for the protection of data privacy that is worthy of emulation, even though the relationship between the GDPR and existing international legal protections for the right to privacy remain unexplored. Correspondingly, this essay examines the relationship between these two bodies of law, and finds that the GDPR's provisions are neither necessary nor sufficient to protect the right to privacy as enshrined in Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It argues that there are other equally valid and effective approaches that states can pursue to protect the right to privacy in an increasingly digital world, including the much-maligned American approach of regulating data privacy on a sectoral basis.

Highlights

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)[1] is widely viewed as setting a new global standard for the protection of data privacy that is worthy of emulation,[2] even though the relationship between the GDPR and existing international legal protections for the right to privacy remain unexplored
This essay examines the relationship between these two bodies of law, and finds that the GDPR’s provisions are neither necessary nor sufficient to protect the right to privacy as enshrined in Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).[3]
Prior to the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948,6 domestic legal systems had only protected certain aspects of what we consider the right to privacy

Summary

Vivek Krishnamurthy*

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)[1] is widely viewed as setting a new global standard for the protection of data privacy that is worthy of emulation,[2] even though the relationship between the GDPR and existing international legal protections for the right to privacy remain unexplored. It argues that there are other valid and effective approaches that states can pursue to protect the right to privacy in an increasingly digital world, including the much-maligned American approach of regulating data privacy on a sectoral basis

The Right to Privacy in International Law

AJIL UNBOUND

The American Approach to Privacy Regulation

Conclusion