CSCI2002

Privacy and Personal Data Protection

Offered this year and most years

Spring 2025

If you tried to live for one day without generating any digital personal data, how would you spend it? In the Information Age, the use of personal data has proliferated and is pervasive. This course offers a comprehensive examination of protection of privacy and personal data, which is central to autonomy, dignity, and liberty. Topics include identity, financial, health, educational, and other data. Students will learn about: Fair Information Practices; the development of modern privacy rules in the United States and around the world; Fourth Amendment privacy and the autonomy of the individual in relation to the state; key US laws (HIPAA, FERPA, GLBA, GINA, COPPA, etc.); significant international rules (European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), etc.); important institutions (Federal Trade Commission, Data Protection Authorities, etc.); standards; Privacy by Design and Default; and emerging issues.