European Data Protection Regulation, Journalism, and Traditional Publishers: Balancing on a Tightrope?

The tension between freedom of expression and European personal data protection regulation is unmistakable. Nowhere is this more apparent than in its interface with professional journalism and other traditional publishers including artists, writers and academics. This book systematically explores how that tension has been managed across thirty-one European States from the 1970s through to the 2010s including under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It is found that, notwithstanding confusing laws, data authorities have regulated journalism through contextual rights balancing. However, they have struggled to establish a clear standard of strictness or ensure consistent enforcement. Their stance regarding other publishers has been more confused - whilst academics have been subject to onerous restrictions developed for medical and related research, other writers and artists have been largely ignored. This book suggests that contextual rights balancing should be extended to all traditional publishers and systematically developed through robust co-regulation that draws on the strength of both statutory control and self-regulation.

David Erdos, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Cambridge

Dr David Erdos is Deputy Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, and University Senior Lecturer in Law and the Open Society in the Faculty of Law and also WYNG Fellow in Law at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge. After reading PPE at Merton College Oxford, David studied for an MA (2003) and PhD (2006) in the Politics Department of Princeton University. Prior to joining Cambridge in 2013, he spent six years as a research fellow in the Faculty of Law and at Balliol College in Oxford. David's work has examined the development of human rights systems (including through a monograph Delegating Rights Protection (2010)) and also the law and governance of information. Drawing on a background in both political science and law, his research has blended doctrinal analysis with rigorous quantitative and qualitative methodology from social science. His most recent work has focused on the interface between European data protection and freedom of expression.