Law and Technology of Data Privacy: A Case for International Harmonization
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Haksoo Ko
Abstract
Data crosses national borders routinely. And any regulation on data privacy by an individual national authority could easily have ramifications beyond its jurisdictional boundary. This article lays out some of the relevant issues and provides an argument for international coordination and harmonization. As technology advances, various techniques are being employed and will continue to be employed to gather information on users. At the same time, with the information thus gathered, companies engage in highly sophisticated data analytics. In response to these developments, several national and regional authorities have put forward major reform proposals and discussions are under way. The current framework of addressing data privacy issues at a country level or at a regional level, however, has a risk of splintering the overall regulatory and enforcement regime at the global level. This article examines economic incentives of individual authorities and illustrates that, without international harmonization, there is a systematic risk that global welfare would be reduced due to individual authorities’ sub-optimal regulations. The article then discusses possible options for international coordination and harmonization.
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- Law and Finance: What Matters? Hong Kong as a Test Case
- Judicial Politics in Unstable Democracies: The Case of the Philippine Supreme Court, An Empirical Analysis 1986-2010
- In Quest of Judicial Independence for Protecting Private Property: Evidence from Constitutional Review in South Korea
- Developing Human Capabilities Through Law: Is Indian Law Failing?
- Dentsū Changed Nothing: Reexamining Karoshi in Japan Through Shavell's Insights on the Incentives to Prevent Accidents
- Discretionary vs. Mandatory Prosecution: A Game-Theoretic Approach to Comparative Criminal Procedure
- Law and Technology of Data Privacy: A Case for International Harmonization
