TECHNOLOGY & PRIVACY
(LAWP-8015) - 3 UNITS

Data Privacy has become a major legal practice area, as well as a matter of great public concern with the growth of social media, smart devices, artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. While federal law is slow to respond to emerging threats to privacy, states and foreign governments have rushed to fill the breach. As a result, lawyers must confront a panoply of overlapping and sometimes inconsistent regulations that touch every aspect of law (e.g., law enforcement, communications, commerce, national security). As one example, the European Union considers the United States to be a "non-compliant 3rd country" when it comes to data privacy. As a result, data transfers are tightly restricted, affecting everything from Google searches to Facebook messaging to finance and international trade.

This course surveys the various domains in which legal privacy issues arise: the privacy torts, constitutional right to privacy and anonymity, privacy and the media, privacy in electronic communications and social media, tracking systems, national security, financial privacy, health privacy, internet privacy, the California Consumer Privacy Act, privacy in Europe, and privacy enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission.

This course was designed in 2010 as Loyola's first online course and thus differs from others that have recently been moved online as a result of the pandemic. The course employs a combination of synchronous (live, real-time) and asynchronous (flexible timing) instruction, with weekly feedback mechanisms. The course satisfies the Upper Division Writing Requirement with a term paper due at the beginning of exam period. Information technologies will be covered with a light touch. No prior technical experience is required. Enrollment may be limited. For further information, see http://lls.edu/techprivacy.

Satisfies Writing Requirement  

Pass/Fail:
No

Prerequisites:
None