The purpose of this thesis is to elucidate what online profiling is, what happens with users' or customers' personal data during this process, how these activities interfere with the individuals' right to privacy, what the legal regulation in this field is, whether the privacy interests of individuals are sufficiently protected and if not, how the situation might be improved. The thesis starts with description of todays' business practices that are based on collecting data about customers, analyzing it and creating profiles suggesting the most profitable behaviour of businesses towards customers. It is followed by explanation of the technological tools enabling data collection and the method of data mining that is the key enabler of creating profiles. The text continues with description of risks of profiling in relation to privacy, i.e. the issues of discrimination, de-individualisation, restriction of individual autonomy, information asymmetries and possible misuse of profiles. The notion of right to privacy is explained and other interests that have to be balanced with privacy are mentioned as well. After that follows a critical description of the current legal framework in the European Union. It consists of Data Protection Directive, ePrivacy Directive and since 2018 of the General Data...

Monitoring of employees Abstract The theme of this diploma thesis is, as the title suggests, the monitoring of employees. With the continuous development and progress of technologies and their increasing availability, the privacy of citizens is becoming increasingly more endangered. Even more concerning is the privacy of employees in the workplace, where an employer has inexhaustible possibilities to monitor activity at work - and sometimes outside of the workplace as well. On the other hand, the intention of the employer to protect its assets and the financial means invested in the operation of its business is appreciable and in some ways necessary to align with the employer's obligations to their shareholders. Therefore, the chosen subject brings to the surface the conflict of two equal rights, as the right to protection of privacy collides with the right of protection of property. For this reason, the whole thesis takes into account both the labour law regulations and the regulations on the protection of personal data - since personal data of employees can be threatened by monitoring. With regard to the fact, that Regulation (EU) 2016/679 comes into effect soon, it is briefly mentioned in the relevant parts, especially when assessing whether it will impact the legal interpretation in the future or not....

The Protection of Privacy on the Internet: a Law and Economics Perspective Abstract The topic of this thesis is protection of privacy on the Internet, further narrowed down to the matter of granting consent to store and process cookies and looking at it specifically from the perspective of law and economics. The aim of this paper is to answer the question of whether the current legislation of granting permission to process cookies is sufficient and user-friendly. To answer this question, the thesis was based on interpretation of the results of a survey about using cookies, conducted on selected Czech websites, namely those of central authorities of the Czech Republic, Czech news portals and Czech online shopping stores. Furthermore, the thesis proposes specific changes within current legislation of processing cookies. Because of the transposition of Directive on privacy and electronic communications into the legal order of the Czech Republic, the policy of granting consent to the storing and processing of personal data has changed from the original opt-out policy to the current opt-in policy. The current opt-in policy requires a preceding user's consent. In this thesis, I conclude that applying this opt-in policy has lowered the user-friendly settings and that it did not lead to any improvement of...

Master of Science / Computing and Information Sciences / Eugene Vasserman / The increase in penetration of Internet technology throughout the world is bringing an increasing volume of user information online, and developing countries such as those of East Africa are included as contributors and consumers of this voluminous information. While we have seen concerns from other parts of the world regarding user privacy and security, very little is known of East African Internet users’ concern with their online information exposure. The aim of this study is to compare Internet user awareness and concerns regarding online privacy and security between East Africa (EA) and the United States (U.S.) and to determine any common attitudes and differences. The study followed a quantitative research approach, with the EA population sampled from the Open University of Tanzania, an open and distance-learning university in East Africa, and the U.S. population sampled from Kansas State University, a public university in the U.S. Online questionnaires were used as survey instruments. The results show no significant difference in awareness of online privacy between Internet users from East Africa and the U.S. There is however, significant difference in concerns about online privacy, which differ with the type of information shared. Moreover, the results have shown that the U.S. Internet users are more aware of online privacy concerns, and more likely to have taken measure to protect their online privacy and conceal their online presence, than the East African Internet users. This study has also shown that East Africans Internet users are more likely to be victims of online identity theft, security issues and reputation damage.

Cette thèse étudie les aspects passage à l’échelle et respect de la vie privée des systèmes de recommandation grâce à l’emploi d’algorithmes à base de sketchs. Les contributions techniques liées à cette étude nous permettent de proposer un système de recommandations personnalisées capable de passer à l’échelle tant en nombre d’utilisateurs qu’en nombre de produits à recommander, tout en offrant une bonne protection de la confidentialité de ces recommandations. La thèse se situe ainsi à la croisée de trois domaines qui sont les systèmes de recommandation, la confidentialité différentielle et les techniques à base de sketchs. Concernant la confidentialité, nous nous sommes intéressés à définir de nouveaux mécanisme garantissant une bonne confidentialité mais aussi à les évaluer. Nous avons pu observer que c’est qui est le paramètre essentiel contrôlant le respect plus ou moins garanti de la confidentialité différentielle. Par ailleurs, le besoin de fonctionner à grande échelle demande de relever les défis liés à la modélisation de très nombreux utilisateurs et à la prise en compte de très nombreux produits à recommander. Ces défis sont particulièrement difficiles à relever dans un contexte où les préférences des utilisateurs et le catalogue de produits évoluent dynamiquement. Cette évolution complexifie les techniques de stockage des profils des utilisateurs, leur mise à jour et leur interrogation. Nos contributions sur cet aspect intéressent non seulement le domaine de la recommandation, mais ont une portée plus générale. Globalement, nous avons mené de nombreuses campagnes d’évaluation de nos propositions, sur des jeux de données réels de très grande taille, démontrant ainsi la capacité de nos contributions à passer à l’échelle tout en offrant de la dynamicité et des garanties sur la confidentialité. / In this thesis, we aim to study and evaluate the privacy and scalability properties of recommender systems using sketching techniques and propose scalable privacy preserving personalization mechanisms. Hence, the thesis is at the intersection of three different topics: recommender systems, differential privacy and sketching techniques. On the privacy aspects, we are interested in both new privacy preserving mechanisms and the evaluation of such mechanisms. We observe that the primary parameter in differential privacy is a control parameter and motivated to find techniques that can assess the privacy guarantees. We are also interested in proposing new mechanisms that are privacy preserving and get along well with the evaluation metrics. On the scalability aspects, we aim to solve the challenges arising in user modeling and item retrieval. User modeling with evolving data poses difficulties, to be addressed, in storage and adapting to new data. Also, addressing the retrieval aspects finds applications in various domains other than recommender systems. We evaluate the impact of our contributions through extensive experiments conducted on benchmark real datasets and through the results, we surmise that our contributions very well address the privacy and scalability challenges.

In present-day society more and more personal information is being collected. The nature of the collection has also changed: more sensitive and potentially prejudicial information is collected. The advent of computers and the development of new telecommunications technology, linking computers in networks (principally the Internet) and enabling the transfer of information between computer systems, have made information increasingly important, and boosted the collection and use of personal information. The risks inherent in the processing of personal information are that the data may be inaccurate, incomplete or irrelevant, accessed or disclosed without authorisation, used for a purpose other than that for which they were collected, or destroyed. The processing of personal information poses a threat to a person's right to privacy. The right to identity is also infringed when incorrect or misleading information relating to a person is processed. In response to the problem of the invasion of the right to privacy by the processing of personal information, many countries have adopted "data protection" laws. Since the common law in South Africa does not provide adequate protection for personal data, data protection legislation is also required. This study is undertaken from a private law perspective. However, since privacy is also protected as a fundamental right, the influence of constitutional law on data protection is also considered. After analysing different foreign data protection laws and legal instruments, a set of core data protection principles is identified. In addition, certain general legal principles that should form the basis of any statutory data protection legislation in South Africa are proposed. Following an analysis of the theoretical basis for data protection in South African private law, the current position as regards data protection in South-Africa is analysed and measured against the principles identified. The conclusion arrived at is that the current South African acts can all be considered to be steps in the right direction, but not complete solutions. Further legislation incorporating internationally accepted data protection principles is therefore necessary. The elements that should be incorporated in a data protection regime are discussed. / Jurisprudence / LL. D. (Jurisprudence)

所謂「罷工」，是指「多數勞工有計畫性的不履行其勞務」而言。至於「糾察線」，一般而言是指工會在進行罷工時，為了鼓勵其他受僱人支持該工會之行動，而由工會成員或參與「罷工」者，手持標語而在雇主之工作場所入口處所進行的說服行為。然而，一個可以想像、同時也是過去時常發生的問題─雇主可不可以直接請求國家主動介入，甚至進一步排除勞方所發動的各項爭議手段？若自警察權限行使的角度出發，目前學理上所存在的幾個重要的警察任務，除了傳統的「危害防止」之外，新興的「危害預防」以及備受爭議的「私權保護」，似乎都可以是警察介入勞資爭議事件的理由。除了前述思考外，若就勞資爭議事件的外觀觀之，由於爭議行為是屬於勞工集體性權利行使後的結果，因此在此一集體性外觀之下，以規範特定多數人集體意志行動的「集會遊行法」似乎就存有介入的空間。然而，若我們認為勞工的集體性權利在憲法上有其獨特的地位，而應受到特別的保障，但卻又允許充滿諸多不合理規範的「集會遊行法」恣意介入，這是否已經形成了「憲法上允許、但實定法上不允許」的矛盾結果？因此，在特定法領域內進行思考時，應同時考慮罷工背後所代表的獨特社會意義，並試著融入此一理念，不宜以該領域內的原理原理原普遍性的適用於罷工事件，而導致罷工遭到實質上架空的結果。在此一思考下，在具體的勞資爭議事件中，除了考量警察的核心任務要件外，勞動法領域內重要的原理原則，例如「團體協約自治」、「國家中立原則」、「爭議對等原則」等，也是重要的判斷因素。 首先，若我們面對的是「罷工」時，若就「危害防止」任務的角度，雖然勞工在調解不成立、且經過罷工投票程序正式取得罷工權後，將會形成外觀上可具體辨認的「危害」，但「罷工」本質上為單純的民事上債務不履行，不會對警察所欲保護的「公共安全」法益形成侵害，因此警察不得以「危害防止」為由介入；其次，若是「私權保護」任務，「罷工」雖屬純粹的私權爭執，因而落入警察之「私權保護」任務之範疇，但「罷工」所形成的危害不具有不可回復性，且因勞工主管機關在勞資爭議事件中的頻繁介入，實際上也不能滿足「輔助性」的要求，因此縱經雇主請求，警察亦不能以「私權保護」為由介入；其三，依據警察的「危害預防」任務，若罷工中的勞工若具有集會遊行的外觀時，警察可以依據警察職權行使法第9條針對在場的勞工進行資料蒐集，但其權限行使範圍不包括「不具集會遊行外觀的罷工活動」，例如工會幹部於罷工前私下進行的聯繫與討論等；其四，若有存在集會遊行外觀的罷工行動時，以罷工為目的的集會遊行雖不能與「罷工」本身畫上等號，但此類集會遊行的核心精神仍是在於強化罷工本身的效果，因此基於憲法上對於集體性同盟自由的最大保障，應認為此類集會遊行應不受集會遊行法所規範，因此警察不得以集會遊行法為由強行介入；退步言之，縱然是採取「以罷工為目的的集會遊行」應受集會遊行法所規範的見解，仍應認為該集會遊行屬於集會遊行法第8條第1項第1款之「依法令規定舉行」之例外，因此毋庸事前申請。但我們在以警察法的角度思考之餘，仍應進一步考量「爭議對等原則」及「國家中立原則」的立場，因此前述自警察法角度得出的結論應再進一步修正，亦即不應允許警察以「危害預防」任務以及「集會遊行法」為由，過度干預勞工的爭議權行使。 而警察若面對的是「糾察線」時，又應如何處理？首先，就「危害防止」任務而言，仍可以集體勞動法領域的「和平勸服說」作為警察的職權發動判斷依據；其次，在「私權保護」任務的部分，若糾察線的設置導致激烈的衝突，而使行為人因而該當特定刑法構成要件時，因已經經過刑法所保護的特定法益並非「未經刑罰或公法化」之私權，不能滿足「私權保護」任務之前提，因此警察當然不能以此為由加以介入；其三，在「危害預防」任務的部分，警察可以依據警察職權行使法第9條針對糾察線設置現場的勞工進行資料蒐集；其四，在「集會遊行法」的部分，本文採取與罷工相同的看法，亦即一個以罷工為目的的集會遊行，由於其核心精神仍是在於勞動條件的談判，基於憲法上對於集體性同盟自由的最大保障，應認為此類集會遊行應不受集會遊行法所規範，因此警察不得以集會遊行法為由強行介入。而糾察線屬於附隨於罷工的重要爭議行為，其既為同盟自由所保障的集體勞動行為之一，亦應為相同解釋，因此就此一問題應採取否定的看法。至於「爭議對等原則」及「國家中立原則」的部分，若考量個別糾察線的設置若因違反刑法而遭到警察介入時，不必然會影響其他正在進行的爭議行為，換言之，個別糾察線設置的排除不必然會導致勞方的整體抗爭力量被過度削弱，因此仍應允許警察在滿足「危害防止」及「危害預防」任務要件的同時，主動發動其職權，例如以強制力排除侵害以及事先進行資料蒐集等。

In present-day society more and more personal information is being collected. The nature of the collection has also changed: more sensitive and potentially prejudicial information is collected. The advent of computers and the development of new telecommunications technology, linking computers in networks (principally the Internet) and enabling the transfer of information between computer systems, have made information increasingly important, and boosted the collection and use of personal information. The risks inherent in the processing of personal information are that the data may be inaccurate, incomplete or irrelevant, accessed or disclosed without authorisation, used for a purpose other than that for which they were collected, or destroyed. The processing of personal information poses a threat to a person's right to privacy. The right to identity is also infringed when incorrect or misleading information relating to a person is processed. In response to the problem of the invasion of the right to privacy by the processing of personal information, many countries have adopted "data protection" laws. Since the common law in South Africa does not provide adequate protection for personal data, data protection legislation is also required. This study is undertaken from a private law perspective. However, since privacy is also protected as a fundamental right, the influence of constitutional law on data protection is also considered. After analysing different foreign data protection laws and legal instruments, a set of core data protection principles is identified. In addition, certain general legal principles that should form the basis of any statutory data protection legislation in South Africa are proposed. Following an analysis of the theoretical basis for data protection in South African private law, the current position as regards data protection in South-Africa is analysed and measured against the principles identified. The conclusion arrived at is that the current South African acts can all be considered to be steps in the right direction, but not complete solutions. Further legislation incorporating internationally accepted data protection principles is therefore necessary. The elements that should be incorporated in a data protection regime are discussed. / Jurisprudence / LL. D. (Jurisprudence)