Tjerk Timan, Scientist Integrator Strategy and Policy, TNO, the Netherlands

Bryce Clayton Newell, School of Information Science, University of Kentucky, US

Bert-Jaap Koops, Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society (TILT), Tilburg University, the Netherlands

This book examines privacy in public space from both legal and regulatory perspectives. With on-going technological innovations such as mobile cameras, WiFi tracking, drones and augmented reality, aspects of citizens’ lives are increasingly vulnerable to intrusion. The contributions describe contemporary challenges to achieving privacy and anonymity in physical public space, at a time when legal protection remains limited compared to ‘private’ space. To address this problem, the book clearly shows why privacy in public space needs defending. Different ways of conceptualizing and shaping such protection are explored, for example through ‘privacy bubbles’, obfuscation and surveillance transparency, as well as revising the assumptions underlying current privacy laws.