The LSE Law, Technology and Society group has a long-standing interests in the areas of Privacy and Data Protection. This interest incorporates a broad range of relevant issues, from children's data privacy rights to state surveillance, and the approach adopted by group members is multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary. Research papers produced by members have examined challenging legal and policy issues, including data as an international law object; the normative foundations of EU data protection law; the impact of Brexit on EU-UK data flows and the role of children's rights in digital advertising.
Members of this research group have produced papers and reports that have influenced policy-making. These include Dr Stephen Humphreys' 'Navigating the Dataverse' report for the International Council on Human Rights Policy, Professor Murray's policy briefings on the UK's Investigatory Powers Bill and Dr Lynskey's role (alongside Judith Rauhofer, University of Edinburgh) in the (ongoing) reform of the Commonwealth Model Data Protection Act.
Members of the group also act as consultants or external advisors on significant data protection and privacy projects. Professor Murray acted as a special advisor to the House of Lords Committee examining 'Whether the Internet should be (further) regulated', an investigation which incorporated significant data protection and privacy issues. Dr Verdoodt has acted as an external advisor to the World Health Organisation on children's exposure to digital advertising and has advised the Belgian Privacy Commission in an investigation it conducted into Facebook's data processing practices. Dr Lynskey is a member of the EU Commission's GDPR Expert Stakeholder Group and of the Ada Lovelace Institute's expert group on 'Rethinking Data Regulation'.
Recently, members of the group presented their research to domestic and international regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority and at the International Conference of Privacy and Data Protection Commissioners, as well as to academic audiences in the EU, Brazil, China and the US.
Group members are committed to encouraging academic excellence in these fields through collaboration and guest teaching (for instance, at the University of Amsterdam and the College of Europe, Bruges), PhD supervision and examination and editorial positions in relevant outlets, such as International Data Privacy Law and the Modern Law Review.
Staff in the Data Protection and Privacy Group
Professor Stephen Humphreys
Dr Martin Husovec
Professor Emily Jackson
Dr Orla Lynskey
Professor Andrew Murray
Dr Andrew Scott