The challenges faced by privacy laws in changing technological, commercial and social environments are considered in this broad-ranging 2006 examination of privacy law. The book encompasses three overlapping areas of analysis: privacy protection under the general law; legislative measures for data protection in digital communications networks; and the influence of transnational agreements and other pressures toward harmonised privacy standards. Leading, internationally recognised authors discuss developments across these three areas in the UK, Europe, the US, APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation), Australia and New Zealand. Chapters draw on doctrinal and historical analysis of case law, theoretical approaches to both freedom of speech and privacy, and the interaction of law and communications technologies in order to examine present and future challenges to law's engagement with privacy.

Review of the hardback: '… the book represents a serious contribution to a debate which is guaranteed to run for a while yet.' The Commonwealth Lawyer
Review of the hardback: 'This well-presented collection examines numerous aspects of privacy law from a wide range of perspectives. … The book will therefore be a useful resource for anyone wanting to identify some of the challenges to privacy inherent in modern life and to understand how the law does, and should, respond to them.' Journal of Cambridge Law

Director of the Centre for Media and Communications Law at the University of Melbourne. Deputy Director of the Centre for Media and Communications Law, University of Melbourne.