Handbook

While privacy has been valued for centuries, in today’s digital age, there is a resurgence of interest in the legal dimensions of privacy due to the theoretical and practical challenges posed to its protection by new technologies, evolving social norms and the increasing commodification of information. These contemporary developments exert pressure on existing legal frameworks of privacy, to adapt to more complex spatial and informational environments. To engage with these emerging complexities, students of law must cultivate an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks of privacy and develop the ability to appraise such frameworks in light of the realities of technological innovation and data-driven markets.

In this subject, students will examine: the meaning and value of privacy from a variety of theoretical perspectives; the historical development of legal privacy protections; the nature and scope of existing frameworks of privacy law in Australia, comprised of a complex mix of both common law and statute; the practical operation of such frameworks in contrast to other comparable jurisdictions; and the interrelationship between law and technology in the pursuit of privacy protection.