Abstract
This Article shows that the transparency of personal information online through ubiquitous data collection and surveillance challenges the rule of law both domestically and internationally. The Article makes three arguments. First, the transparency created by individuals’ interactions online erodes the boundary between public and private information and creates a “transparent citizen.” Second, the transparent citizen phenomenon undermines the state’s faithfulness to the ideals of the rule of law and to citizens’ respect for the rule of law. Transparency enables government to collect and use personal information from the private sector in ways that circumvent traditional political and legal checks and balances. Transparency encourages the development of anonymity tools that empower wrongdoers to evade legal responsibility and the rule of law. And, transparency puts national security, public safety, and legal institutions at risk in ways that will jeopardize and corrode the public’s faith in the rule of law. Third and lastly, transparency challenges international norms and data flows. National data privacy law is anchored in local constitutional culture and the transparency of personal information across borders creates deep-seated political instability that will only be resolved through political treaties.
First Page
437
Recommended Citation
Joel
R.
Reidenberg,
The Transparent Citizen,
47
Loy. U. Chi. L. J.
437
(2015).
Available at:
https://lawecommons.luc.edu/luclj/vol47/iss2/3