Abstract:
“The rise of social networking sites and related services has seen the amount and range of personal information – including sensitive health information – being published online sky-rocketing.
Users themselves generated much of this information whilst services not only make this available but often go further by pushing, structuring and aggregating the content.
Especially as this information may relate not only to users themselves but also third parties, these developments raise unprecedented challenges for both the interpretation and enforcement of data protection. This lecture will explore what responsibilities user services and also users themselves both do and should have given the law’s multi-faceted ambition to protect individuals whilst respecting and safeguarding both competing rights such as freedom of expression and also the considerable social, economic and health benefits made possible by information technology.”
About the speaker:
Dr David Erdos, University Lecturer in Law, University of Cambridge
Dr David ERDOS is University Lecturer in Law and the Open Society in the Faculty of Law and WYNG Fellow in Law at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge. His research explores data protection especially as it intersects with freedom of expression and freedom of research. Building on his background in law and political science, his work has developed arguments about the substance and operation of the law in multiple jurisdictions using quantitative and qualitative empirical methods. His doctrinal work has explored the special derogations for journalism, art and literature as well as how to craft a “midway” between this and the default data protection for activities predominantly concerned with self-expression, such as many types of social networking involving indeterminate publication, or which facilitate of a wide variety of purposes, such as general search engines.