The Swedish Understanding of Privacy as a Fundamental Right in a Comparative Perspective – : Overview and Possibilities

• Swedish discussions regarding the right to privacy are, in many ways, still at an early stage. In the midst of the complex process of getting to know the history, scope and legal consequences of privacy in Sweden, it is worth beginning slowly in order to appreciate differences between the privacy discourse in the EU and the discourse in the US. When working in a ’new’ field that is highly dependent on international texts, cases and materials, it is tempting to import arguments from other countries or systems.  However, are we always talking about the same thing? In this paper, a general comparison is made between the right to privacy as developed within the European Union, and the American concept of the right to privacy. The goal is to begin a discussion on what this European funda­men­tal right means, and to contrast it with the American, civil liberty concept – or perhaps fundamental right? In particular, we wish to see how the right to privacy functions in these different legal settings, and thereby to see how a better understanding of these two systems can help lead us to new insights in a Swedish legal context. The survey will begin with a discussion of the terminology used in the field, and a brief background of the right to privacy as developed thus far in Sweden.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Juridik -- Juridik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Law -- Law (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Right to Privacy

Sweden-Europe-US

Comparative Perspectives

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kap (subject category)