Privacy and Standardisation

Welcome to the course standardisation and technology!

Do you already know what standards are? Could you image a world without standards? It is certainly not easy to visualize a world without standards and the huge importance of standards is often underestimated in our society. That is because such a vast amount are common to us and have been for ages. We don’t even realise they are standards anymore.

We are excited to see you join and explore the world of standards that goes unnoticed by so many! First we visit historic examples of standards and see that even Before Christ standards were ever present. But since then standards have grown and evolved alongside societies and we need to discuss the fundamentals of standards and standard setting.

Nowadays technology is rapidly advancing and standards play an ever increasing role. Have you ever wondered what happens under the hood of your mobile phone? How are we able to orchestrate something so huge as the internet without technical agreements and protocols, without standards? We take a look at the organisations that develop and maintain these standards and even take a brief glimpse in the future of this ever evolving field!

Each week video lectures and reading material according to the bibliography in in the introduction will be provided. Practice tests will help you to prepare for the graded assessment at the end of each week.

Good luck and we hope you enjoy the course!

Welcome to this course about privacy,

We are thrilled to see that you are interested and will provide you with a comprehensive study of this intriguiging subject. We hope this course will enthuse you to look further into privacy and personal data regulation. Especially in the light of recent events it becomes more important to know about your (alleged!?) rights and freedoms.

After showing you a number of interesting examples of privacy in recent events, this course continues to provide you with an historic introduction, and varying cases and court decisions. It will guide you through the cultural and legal changes in perception of privacy over time. Sometimes with a more technological perspective. Notably, in the Western world differences have accumulated over time and the differences between the USA and Europe will be explained extensively in the follow-up courses.

Through video lectures and quizzes we endeavor to build a solid foundation for you to construct a well-founded opinion on privacy. Last but not least we sincerely hope you enjoy the course!

Prof.mr.dr. Jan Smits

After having followed Privacy in the Western world you have become acquainted with the overall global legal system and the origins of privacy as a concept as well as privacy as a (human) right. This course deals with the American legal system to protect privacy.

In the USA privacy is protected through different legal concepts. Constitutional protection through the 4th Amendment plays a crucial role in protecting the US citizen against unjust governmental intrusion. As part of a myriad of consumer protection laws (e.g. health, financial) personal data is also protected. And last but not least there are a number of specific laws dealing with the (privacy) protection of all sorts of communications, such as mobile telephony, e-mail, online searches, etc.

The course deals with the main legal concepts in such a way that the learner will, after having successfully completed the course, be able to follow the legal developments in the USA.

We hope you enjoy the course!

After having followed Privacy in the Western world you have become acquainted with the overall global legal system and the origins of privacy as a concept as well as privacy as a (human) right. This course deals with the European legal system to protect privacy. European privacy protection is based upon human rights treaties, both on a European level as well global level such as, e.g. the UN Declaration on Human Rights. This course outlines and deals with these human rights treaties as well as with the specific rules and regulations that govern day to day privacy protection in Europe.

The course deals with how the European cooperation came into being after the devastating effects of World War II. Economic cooperation was deemed necessary to prevent another war. From economic cooperation other issues became part of the negotiations, and to this day more and more policy fields have become part of the European cooperation. Dealing with and having respect for different human rights is paramount in this cooperation. And privacy protection and regulation has become an increasingly important subject that has attracted a lot of global attention.

The course deals with the different legal elements that have played an important role into grabbing in legal terms the notion of privacy and how to legally protect it. The rules that enable the exchange of personal data between the USA and Europe is being dealt with. It also deals with the constituting legal elements that have become part of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

After successful completion of the course you will have sufficient baggage to know about the important legal elements and historical background on the coming into being of European privacy protection. I wish you a lot of success with following the course.