In the context of a rapidly developing Information Society, the Data Protection Directive1 seems both well-intentioned and timely: it reflects a rights-based approach to privacy and to the fair, accurate, transparent and proportionate processing of personal data.2 Yet, in England, as in the United States, EU data protection law has few friends3, – for example, in the Naomi Campbell case, one of the first opportunities for the English appeal courts to comment on the local implementing legislation, Lord Phillips MR described the Data Protection Act, 1998, as ‘cumbersome and inelegant’.4 If the Act were thought to be making a positive contribution to the social and economic well-being of the nation, then the lawyers might have to bear this particular cross. After all, there is plenty of legislation that fits Lord Phillips’ description. However, the lawyers are not on their own. The fact of the matter is that data protection law has been subjected to a sustained chorus of criticism, especially from the public health and medical professionals who contend, at their most extreme, that compliance with the Act is ‘killing patients’.5
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Academy of Medical Sciences, Personal Data for Public Good: Using Health Information in Medical Research, London, January 2006.
Addley, E., ‘Two Discs, 25m Names and a Lot of Questions’, The Guardian, November 24, 2007.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC Privacy Framework, Singapore, APEC Secretariat, 2005.
Ball, K., Lyon, D., Murakami Wood, D., Norris, C., and Raab, C., A Report on the Surveillance Society, September 2006.
Beyleveld, D., ‘Conceptualising Privacy in Relation to Medical Research Values’ in Sheila A.M. McLean (ed.), First Do No Harm Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006, pp.151–163.
Beyleveld, D., ‘Medical Research and the Public Good’, King’s Law Journal Vol.18, 2007, pp.275–289.
Beyleveld, D. and Brownsword, R., Consent in the Law, Oxford, Hart, 2007.
Beyleveld, D. and Histed, E., ‘Betrayal of Confidence in the Court of Appeal’ Medical Law International Vol. 4, 2000, pp.277–311.
Boyd, P., ‘The Requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 for the Processing of Medical Data’ Journal of Medical Ethics Vol. 29, 2003, pp.34–35.
Bradwell, P. and Gallagher, N., FYI: the New Politics of Personal Information, London, DEMOS, 2007.
Brownsword, R., ‘Bioethics Today, Bioethics Tomorrow: Stem Cell Research and the “Dignitarian Alliance” ’ University of Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy Vol. 17, 2003, pp.15–51.
Brownsword, R., ‘Three Bioethical Approaches: A Triangle to be Squared’ (Tokyo, September 2004) (available at www.ipgenethics.org/conference/transcript/session3.doc)
Brownsword, R., ‘The Cult of Consent: Fixation and Fallacy’, King’s College Law Journal, Vol. 15, 2004, pp.223–251.
Brownsword, R., ‘Stem Cells and Cloning: Where the Regulatory Consensus Fails’New England Law Review Vol. 39, 2005, pp.535–571.
Brownsword, R., ‘Informed Consent: To Whom it May Concern’ Jahrbuch für Recht und Ethik, Vol. 15, 2007, pp.267–289.
Brownsword, R., ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You - Profiling, Privacy and the Public Interest’ in Mireille Hildebrandt and Serge Gutwirth (eds.), Profiling the European Citizen, Dordrecht, Springer, 2008, pp.362–382
Brownsword, R., Rights, Regulation and the Technological Revolution, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008.
Dworkin, R.M., Taking Rights Seriously, London, Duckworth, 1978.
Garrie, D.B. and Wong, R., ‘Regulating Voice Over Internet Protocol: An EU/US Comparative Approach’ American University International Law Review Vol. 22, 2007, pp.549–581.
Gibb, J., Who’s Watching You?, London, Collins and Brown, 2005.
Gutwirth, S. and De Hert, P., ‘Privacy, Data Protection and Law Enforcement. Opacity of the Individual and Transparency of Power’ in Claes, E., Duff, A., and Gutwirth, S. (eds.), Privacy and the Criminal Law, Antwerp and Oxford, Intersentia, 2006.
Hart, H.L.A., ‘Bentham on Legal Rights’, in Simpson, A.W.B. (ed.), Oxford Essays in Jurisprudence (Second Series) Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1973, p 171.
Hildebrandt, M., ‘A Vision of Ambient Law’ in Brownsword, R. and Yeung, K. (eds.), Regulating Technologies, Oxford, Hart, 2008.
Jackson, E., ‘ “Informed Consent” to Medical Treatment and the Impotence of Tort’ in McLean, S.A.M. (ed.), First Do No Harm, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006, pp.273–286.
Kent, A., ‘Consent and Confidentiality in Genetics: Whose Information is it Anyway?’ Journal of Medical Ethics, Vol. 29, 2003, pp.16–18.
Koops, B-J and Leenes, R., ‘ “Code” and the Slow Erosion of Privacy’ Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review, Vol.12, 2005, pp. 115–188.
Laurie, G., Genetic Privacy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Lloyd, I.J., Information Technology Law 3rd ed., London, Butterworths, 2000.
Lum, A.J., ‘Don’t Smile, Your Image has just been Recorded on a Camera-Phone: The Need for Privacy in the Public Sphere’ University of Hawai‘i Law Review, Vol. 27, 2005, pp.377–416.
MacCormick, D.N., ‘Rights in Legislation’ in Hacker, P.M.S. and Raz, J. (eds.), Law, Morality, and Society, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1977, p. 189.
Manson, N.C. and O’Neill, O., Rethinking Informed Consent in Bioethics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Moor, J.H., ‘Toward a Theory of Privacy for the Information Age’, in Spinello, R.A. and Tavani, H.T. (eds.), Readings in Cyberethics 2nd ed., Sudbury, Mass., Jones and Bartlett, 2004, pp.407–417.
Mullheron, R., ‘A Potential Framework for Privacy? A Reply to Hello!’ Modern Law Review, Vol. 69, 2006, pp.679–713.
Ntouvas, I., ‘Air Passenger Data Transfer to the USA: the Decision of the ECJ and Latest Developments’ International Journal of Law and Information Technology (August 29, 2007) at http://ijlit.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/eam003v1.
Nuffield Council on Bioethics, The Forensic Use of Bioinformation: Ethical Issues, London, September 2007.
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, Data Protection and Medical Research (Postnote Number 235, January 2005).
Phillipson, G., ‘Transforming Breach of Confidence? Towards a Common Law Right of Privacy under the Human Rights Act’ Modern Law Review, Vol. 66, 2003, pp.726–758.
Swire, P.P. and Litan, R.E., None of Your Business: World Data Flows, Electronic Commerce and the European Privacy Directive, Washington DC, Brookings Institution Press, 1998.
Vedder, A.H., ‘KDD, Privacy, Individuality, and Fairness’ in Spinello, R.A. and Tavani, H.T. (eds.), Readings in Cyberethics 2nd ed., Sudbury, Mass., Jones and Bartlett, 2004, pp.462–470.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Brownsword, R. (2009). Consent in Data Protection Law: Privacy, Fair Processing and Confidentiality. In: Gutwirth, S., Poullet, Y., De Hert, P., de Terwangne, C., Nouwt, S. (eds) Reinventing Data Protection?. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9498-9_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9498-9_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9497-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9498-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawLaw and Criminology (R0)