Understanding Privacy [Hardcover]

Daniel J. Solove (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2008

Privacy is one of the most important concepts of our time, yet it is also one of the most elusive. As rapidly changing technology makes information increasingly available, scholars, activists, and policymakers have struggled to define privacy, with many conceding that the task is virtually impossible.

In this concise and lucid book, Daniel J. Solove offers a comprehensive overview of the difficulties involved in discussions of privacy and ultimately provides a provocative resolution. He argues that no single definition can be workable, but rather that there are multiple forms of privacy, related to one another by family resemblances. His theory bridges cultural differences and addresses historical changes in views on privacy. Drawing on a broad array of interdisciplinary sources, Solove sets forth a framework for understanding privacy that provides clear, practical guidance for engaging with relevant issues.

Understanding Privacy will be an essential introduction to long-standing debates and an invaluable resource for crafting laws and policies about surveillance, data mining, identity theft, state involvement in reproductive and marital decisions, and other pressing contemporary matters concerning privacy.

(20081101)

Editorial Reviews

Review

With the publication of Understanding Privacy, Daniel J. Solove has firmly established himself as one of America's leading intellectuals in the field of information policy and cyberlaw...Solove has now elevated himself to that rarefied air of "people worth watching" in the cyberlaw field; an intellectual--like Lawrence Lessig or Jonathan Zittrain--whose every publication becomes something of an event in the field to which all eyes turn upon release...Make no doubt about it, Daniel Solove's book--and his approach to classifying and dealing with privacy problems--will have a profound impact on all future privacy debates. In that sense, it is a vital text; a must read for all who follow, or engage in, privacy debates. (Adam Thierer Technology Liberation Front )

Instead of reducing this subject to an academic parlor game, Solove uses interdisciplinary sources to offer a convincing argument about why everyone should care deeply about understanding the nature of privacy. Legal scholars will want to read this book, but so will psychologists, communication specialists, public policy makers, philosophers, and anyone interested in where to draw the line between public and private life. (D. S. Dunn Choice )

[A] thoughtful examination of the concept of privacy: what it is, why it seems forever under threat and why we continue to fight for it...[Solove's] is a pragmatic, contextual approach that tries to understand privacy in practice rather than in theory. (Paul Duguid The Nation )

Review

Daniel Solove offers a unique, challenging account of how to think better about-- and of-- privacy. No scholar in America is more committed to demystifying "the right to privacy". (Anita L. Allen, University of Pennsylvania Law School 20100405)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (May 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674027728
• ISBN-13: 978-0674027725
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel J. Solove is the John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School and an internationally-known expert in privacy law.

To find out more about his work and to download many of his writings, go to http://danielsolove.com.

Solove is the author of several books, including
* NOTHING TO HIDE: THE FALSE TRADEOFF BETWEEN PRIVACY AND SECURITY (Yale 2011)
* UNDERSTANDING PRIVACY (Harvard 2008)
* THE FUTURE OF REPUTATION: GOSSIP, RUMOR, AND PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET (Yale 2007) (winner of the 2007 McGannon Award)
* THE DIGITAL PERSON: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY IN THE INFORMATION AGE (NYU 2004)

He is also the author of a textbook, INFORMATION PRIVACY LAW with Aspen Publishing Co. now in its third edition, with co-author Paul Schwartz.

Solove has published more than 40 articles and essays, which have appeared in leading law reviews such as the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Columbia Law Review, California Law Review, Michigan Law Review, NYU Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Duke Law Journal.

Professor Solove has testified before Congress and has been interviewed and featured in several hundred media broadcasts and articles, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Associated Press, Time, Newsweek, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and NPR.

A graduate of Yale Law School, he clerked for Judge Stanley Sporkin, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and Judge Pamela Ann Rymer, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. He also worked at the law firm Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC.

Professor Solove teaches information privacy law, criminal procedure, criminal law, and law and literature.

He blogs at http://concurringopinions.com, which was selected by the ABA Journal as among the 100 best law blogs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful Exploration of Privacy and Why It Matters, June 8, 2008

By 

D. K. Citron (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Understanding Privacy (Hardcover)

It can often seem that we have no secrets--students trumpet their relationship status and crushes on Facebook, data brokers sell our Social Security numbers for a small fee, grocery stores know our eating habits and can guess to the dime what we will appear in our carts at check out every Sunday. So why bother caring about privacy if we really do not have any and cannot control it anyway?

In a beautifully rendered and important book, Professor Solove helps answer that question (and many others) and, in the process, deepens our appreciation of how much privacy is really at stake and why it matters.

Understanding Privacy carefully lays out the different ways our privacy is compromised and the harm that can result. The book brings alive the fact that when our privacy is threatened, individuals are not alone in suffering harm. To be sure, a person whose privacy is compromised experiences problems, from identity theft when a Social Security number is released to a thief to lost job opportunities when drug testing results taken for sports programs make their way to future employers. But, as this book so ably demonstrates, society as a whole suffers as well.

Understanding Privacy illuminates the kaleidoscopic interests at stake and offers a principled way for us to face them. As technology marches on, our privacy is increasingly compromised. Telephone companies store our incoming and outgoing calls, search engines know what we are interested in, and the government mines our information. But, as this book makes clear, businesses, government, and people are in charge of those technologies and have important decisions to make about the information that they amass, use, and disclose, and the activities that they watch. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to appreciate the philosophical and practical questions at issue in our information age.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars an important, but flawed, construction of privacy, February 2, 2009

By 

Adam Thierer (technology policy analyst in Washington, DC area) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Understanding Privacy (Hardcover)

Daniel Solove's book -- and his approach to classifying and dealing with privacy problems -- will have a profound impact on all future privacy debates. In that sense, it is a vital text; a must read for all who follow, or engage in, privacy debates.

On the other hand, Solove's claim that he can construct a new paradigm based strictly on a pragmatic, utilitarian, "problem-solving" approach, is ultimately a failure. There is just no getting around the fact that, at some point, you are going to have to provide a more robust theory of rights or justice to explain why one right trumps another. He fails to do so in this book.

Read my complete review here:

http://techliberation.com/2008/11/08/book-review-soloves-understanding-privacy

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good exploration and discussion of privacy., March 19, 2010

By 

K. Robinson (Idaho Falls, ID) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Understanding Privacy (Hardcover)

I picked up this book because I was working on a college report dealing with privacy. I love this book--it has deepened my understanding of privacy. Solove presents a taxonomy of privacy harms, listing four major and about 16-20 minor categories of privacy harm, covering a wide range of topics and examples as well as legal precedents and cultural differences. I have not seen so complete an exploration of privacy, although I still don't think this book alone will give a full understanding of privacy. Solove doesn't directly address data permanence or long-term storage as a harm (though it might obliquely fall under his "data processing" category). A student of privacy probably ought to understand various forms of privacy protection as well, such as Safe Harbor (though it was not intended as a model, it is still instructive).

I believe this book is a must-read for any student of privacy. If you don't want to buy this book yet, I recommend finding a copy of his paper "'I've Got Nothing to Hide', and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy". That paper outlines his taxonomy, and does a very good job of defending privacy in the digital age. You might be able to find the paper online for free.