Synopses & Reviews
"He was the most important scholar of privacy since Louis Brandeis."Jeffrey Rosen
"No work about privacy had done such a thorough job . . . in elucidating the meaning and importance of privacy."Daniel Solove
In defining privacy as "the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated," Privacy and Freedom (1967) laid the philosophical groundwork for current debates about technology and personal freedom, and is considered a foundational text in the field of privacy law.
Alan Westin (19292013) was a professor of public law and government at Columbia University for almost forty years. Through his worknotably his book Privacy and FreedomWestin is considered to have created, almost single-handedly, the modern field of privacy law.
Synopsis
A landmark text on privacy in the information age.
Synopsis
-He was the most important scholar of privacy since Louis Brandeis.---Jeffrey Rosen
In defining privacy as -the claim of individuals...to determine for themselves when, how and to what extent information about them is communicated, - Alan Westin's 1967 classic Privacy and Freedom laid the philosophical groundwork for the current debates about technology and personal freedom, and is considered a foundational text in the field of privacy law.
By arguing that citizens retained control over how their personal data was used, Westin redefined privacy as an individual freedom, taking Justice Louis Brandeis' 19th century definition of privacy as a legal right and expanding it for use in modern times. Westin's ideas transformed the meaning of privacy, leading to a spate of privacy laws in the 1970s, as well as prefiguring the arguments over privacy that have come to dominate the internet era.
This all new edition of Privacy and Freedom features an introduction by Daniel J. Solove, John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School.
About the Author
Alan Westin (1929-2013) was a Professor of Public Law and Government Emeritus, Columbia University, former publisher of Privacy and American Business, and former President of the Center for Social and Legal Research. Westin's research in the 1960s is widely seen as the first significant work on the problem of consumer privacy and data protection. Westin defined privacy as an individuals right to control, edit, manage, and delete information about them[selves] and decide when, how, and to what extent information is communicated to others.” Westins major books on privacy, Privacy and Freedom (1967) and Databanks in a Free Society (1972, were pioneering works that prompted U.S. privacy legislation and helped launch global privacy movements in many democratic nations in the 1960s and 70s.