Understanding Privacy (Hardcover)

by Daniel J. Solove (Author)
Key Phrases: privacy framework, decisional interference, conceptualize privacy, Supreme Court, United States, Taxonomy of Privacy (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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

Daniel Solove has had the patience and insight to lay privacy bare. This is the most thorough and persuasive conceptualization of privacy written to date. Solove's taxonomy of privacy will become the standard tool for analyzing privacy problems.
--Peter P. Swire, C. William O'Neill Professor of Law and Judicial Administration, Ohio State University

One of the topic's most prolific and thoughtful thinkers, Daniel Solove has written a clear and comprehensive analysis of privacy. In it, he explains why it has been so hard to conceptualize this thing called privacy, and provides a pragmatic, bottom-up understanding. This book will promote sharper thinking and analysis for the next generation of privacy scholarship and policy.
--Jerry Kang, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law

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 )

Product Description

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)

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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 (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #201,109 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 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 (REAL NAME)

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.

1 of 1 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 (think tank analyst in Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

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