Privacy and Information Law

This introductory course will cover the basic principles of privacy and data protection law, and will focus on the rights of individuals in their personal information, and the rights of governmental institutions and private enterprises to collect, use and disclose that information. The course will examine the policies underlying this still-nascent form of protection, and those areas of tort and constitutional law pertinent to privacy. It will cover the substance of some federal privacy statutes relating to record-keeping and financial information. It will also cover certain state privacy statutes, the privacy-related activities of the Federal Trade Commission, and the structure and substance of privacy law in the European Union. Current privacy issues will be discussed in class. Grades will be based on a final examination, with the possibility of a one-increment change (e.g., B to B+ or B-) based on class participation.