A Patchwork of Privacy Laws: Unraveling the Consequences of Legal Code Debt
How Quick Fixes and Shortcuts in Privacy Law Create Complex Challenges
Over the last few years, it feels like the rush to be “first” to pass some new ambitious law, or issue some groundbreaking decision or guidance, has spread in the privacy and data protection world. I’m pretty bad at tracking and critically assessing all the developments, but fortunately I follow some brilliant folks who do (you should as well).
What I am better at is being a decent “privacy Cassandra”. That is, I think I’ve developed a reasonable skill in understanding how rushed, ill-thought-out, or politically-motivated laws and regulations can have profoundly negative consequences on the world, and assessing what those consequences are likely to be. All those years of issue spotting in law school apparently have paid off.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the sense of “privacy urgency” we’re facing. Within the last 3-5 years, in response to abusive business practices, new innovations, shiny tech trends, and the need to grab headlines, politicians, courts, and regulators seem to be…
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