Why Property Rights Won't Protect Our Privacy: A Critical Analysis of Personal Data Ownership
By
Daniel J. Solove
Summary
This article examines the argument that personal data should be treated as property to protect privacy. The author, who wrote about this issue over twenty years ago in his book THE DIGITAL PERSON, argues that property rights for personal data are not an effective solution for privacy protection. The piece critically analyzes why ownership models fail to adequately safeguard privacy in the information age, drawing on long-standing legal and philosophical reasoning about the nature of personal data and property rights.
Source
bskyWhy Property Rights Won't Protect Our Privacy: A Critical Analysis of Personal Data Ownershipdanielsolove.substack.comKey quotes
· 3 pulledI've often heard arguments that an effective way to protect privacy would be to protect personal data with property rights.
The thinking behind this idea is that ownership of property confers a lot of power on the owner, so perhaps this is the best way to empower individuals to control their data.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
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