ABSTRACT
This chapter adopts a ‘Western’ perspective, focusing on the United States of America, and in particular Europe. It will focus primarily, but not exclusively, on the informational aspect of privacy. 2 Section 2 will discuss the role and function of privacy in the legal realm; it will engage with the origins of privacy in the legal realm, the way it is protected in both national and international legal orders and set out some general characteristics of the right to privacy. Section 3 will provide an overview of the most important legal principles; it will look specifically at the basis which underpins privacy in Europe and the USA. Section 4 will recount some of the traditional debates in legal research; such as whether people have the right to control or even sell their personal data. Section 5, discussing new challenges, will engage with the tensions between privacy protection and developments known as Big Data. Finally, section 6 concludes and provides some suggestions for further reading.
