'New Global Developments in Data Protection and Privacy Regulations: Comparative Analysis of European Union, United States, and Russian Legislation' by
Anne Wright Fiero and Elena Beier in (2022) 58(2)
Stanford Journal of International Law 152 comments
Privacy is a fundamental human right recognized in constitutions, international treaties, and national legislation around the globe. The era of globalization and rapid technology development highlights multiple risks to privacy rights. Such developments make it more important than ever to enact legal frameworks for data protection on a national and global scale. Fully applicable across the European Union (EU) as of May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the most comprehensive and progressive piece of data protection legislation in the world.'The intent of this Article is to provide an overview of EU, US, and Russian data privacy regulations, as influenced by the GDPR and the countries' respective cultural and business traditions of privacy.
More specifically, we explore how the historical, cultural, legal, business, and political traditions in each country have shaped the laws and regulations in their respective jurisdictions. As described in Part III, the US approach tends to be ad hoc and focused on concepts like personal freedom and non-interference by the state. Explored in Parts II and IV, the more uniform European approach tends to focus on the dignity of individuals and their protectionnot only against the state but also against private companies and other individuals. In the last few years, US society has focused more closely on data privacy concepts, with recent scrutiny on credit history checks, social media networks, and sharing other attributes of everyday American life, concepts that have long been considered invasive for many Europeans. The European privacy mentality has also been largely influenced by its historical and political systems, such as European monarchies, the Nazi regime in Germany, and the totalitarian regime in the Soviet Union, under all of which disclosure of personal information could lead to severe consequences and prosecutions. Thus, protection of private information is ingrained in European society.
