2 - Conceptual Approaches to Data Protection in the European Union and the United States

Summary

The extraterritorial dimension of EU data protection law has inspired conflicts in jurisdiction between the EU and other States, particularly the US, which has markedly different conceptions of data privacy. In terms of processing personal data, the EU prioritises the privacy and security of that data, while the US foregrounds national security, freedom of expression, access to documents, a free and open Internet, and international trade. The EU and US attitudes to privacy can broadly be placed on a spectrum of, at one end, the EU’s focus on human dignity and, at the other end, the US’ emphasis on liberty. These distinctions are malleable and based on generalisations; they are far more nuanced than just a dignity vs liberty dichotomy. Data protection is particularly interesting because it is not nearly a universal value. The EU has an omnibus data privacy regulation and the US has fragmented, sectoral approaches. In the US, the relevant laws concern fair information practices or informational privacy, as opposed to data protection. The US legal system assigns these less normative heft, which is a beginning point for many of the jurisdictional tensions surrounding the reach of EU law.