The protection of the right to privacy as the social imperative of digital age: How vulnerable are we?

Abstract

The paper examines various forms of jeopardizing the privacy of individuals in digital world, with specific focus on criminal protection provided by current international and national legal framework and the jurisprudence of European Court of Human Rights. The significance of conducting this scientific research is essential considering that we live in the era of electronic communications in which no one is anonymous. Development of information and communication technologies has brought, among its many advantages, various challenges in all spheres of modern life. Since the Internet has become the global forum, individuals have been increasingly target of countless insults, defamation and threats; moreover, numerous personal information or media get published without consent. The practice shows that effective suppression and control of illegal behavior on the Internet and punishing the perpetrators is at the rudimental level. In order to provide proper protection for the victims of criminal offenses committed against their privacy in the digital world, it is necessary to create new models and approaches to solving this problem.