How has privacy law evolved in the last 50 years? What will it look like in 2060? On January 29, the
California Law Review
gathered together some of the world’s top privacy law scholars and practitioners to explore these questions.
The symposium, “Prosser’s Privacy at Fifty,” held at UC Berkeley School of Law, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Dean William Prosser’s landmark article, “Privacy,” 48
California Law Review
383 (1960), among the most influential law review articles in history.
This symposium was no dusty retrospective. On the contrary, the scholars and practitioners at the event used Prosser’s article as a jumping-off point for a variety of compelling and forward-looking discussions.
Professor Anita Allen from the University of Pennsylvania Law School described the possibilities and limitations of the privacy torts as tools for protecting the rights of gays and lesbians. Professors Paul Schwartz of UC Berkeley School of Law and Karl-Nikolaus Peifer of the University of Cologne compared American and German attitudes toward privacy. Professor Lior Strahilevitz from the University of Chicago Law School argued for a “reunification” of America’s fragmented privacy laws.
Other panelists at the event included Professor Fred Cate of Indiana University School of Law, Professor Danielle Citron of the University of Maryland School of Law, Professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger of the National University of Singapore, Professor Neil Richards of Washington University School of Law, Professor Daniel Solove of the George Washington University School of Law, Professor Stephen Sugarman of UC Berkeley School of Law, and Christopher Wolf of Hogan and Hartson.
To provide perspectives from outside the academy, the
California Law Review
invited privacy law practitioners to offer response comments at the symposium. These speakers included Michael Hintze, associate general counsel at Microsoft; Nicole Wong, vice president and deputy general counsel at Google; Audrey Plonk, global security and Internet policy specialist at Intel; and Randall Edwards, a partner at O’Melveny and Myers.
All of the papers from the symposium will appear in a special issue of the
in December 2010.
The California Law Review is grateful to the sponsors of this event: Google, the Future of Privacy Forum, the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, Data Privacy Day, Intel, Microsoft, O’Melveny and Myers LLP, and the Privacy Projects.
