The ‘Privacy Problem’ in the Digital Age

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter explores the unique challenges of securing the right to privacy in the digital age and the imperatives of an international law response. It first lays out the three key dimensions of the ‘privacy problem’ in the digital age, namely the transnationalization, privatization, and sophistication of threats to the right to privacy. The chapter then discusses the imperatives of an international law response to the privacy problem in the light of the boundaries of international law and global privacy initiatives that seek to reimagine international privacy law. Further, it positions the book’s underlying argument for a pragmatic approach to international privacy law in the rather disjointed scholarship in the field. The chapter closes with a discussion on the method and analytical framework adopted in the book.