Privacy in the digital age: comparative analysis of data protection policy dynamics in Belgium, Canada and Switzerland

Over the last three decades, with the development of the Internet and information and communication technologies (ICT), the number of ways of collecting and processing personal data has exploded. In the digital age, privacy issues have become more internationalised, more technically complex and therefore less transparent to non-experts. As a result, the traditional privacy regulation of the liberal nation state became progressively obsolete. By studying the broad evolution of state protection of this fundamental right since the emergence of the World Wide Web in 1989, and particularly after a mass surveillance focusing event with worldwide impact, this research aims to understand why and how does the privacy issue reach the agenda in the digital age. Theoretically, this research proposes an original analytical model focused especially on the political and societal attention given to the privacy issue. Methodologically, this work makes use of a comparative multi-method design, combining process tracing and qualitative comparisons, based on a triangulation of sources (official documents, press, and interviews with experts).

Faculty Supervisor:

Christine Rothmayr Allison

Student:

Partner:

Université Catholique de Louvain

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

Université de Montréal

Program: