LAW 480: Introduction to Information Privacy

Welcome to Information Privacy! This course will explore a range of contexts in which the courts and other branches of government have attempted to give definition to a legal right to privacy. The right to privacy is puzzling. It must coexist with other countervailing policies like free speech, law enforcement, national security, and public access to government records. Though the right to privacy has never had fixed definition, privacy law is in a particularly important period of development right now. Courts and policymakers are grappling with the rules that ought to govern the collection and use of personal information in the age of the Internet. Since nearly every private industry and public agency has a stake in the matter, the stakes are high, and the need for privacy experts is great.