List of publications on data protection and human rights- and rule of law issues in the digital environment

(in reverse chronological order, selection, mainly from last 20 years):

In preparation (autumn 2025):

ü    The Data Protection Officer’s Handbook, a manual on the application of the GDPR in practice (updating but also significantly expanding on the DPO Handbook written in an EU project: see below, 2019), Oxford University Press, due for publication in 2026.

ü    The inadequacy of the EU data protection adequacy determination criteria and processes, due for publication on SSRN later in 2025.

2025

ü    A (not so simple) question: must all algorithmic discrimination be “prevented” and “eliminated” – or need it only be “minimised”?, September 2025, available at:

[iGlobalLawyer, 2 October 2025]

Also submitted to the European Data Protection Board in the consultation on its Guidelines 3/2025 on the interplay between the DSA and the GDPR and released on the EDPB website:

https://www.edpb.europa.eu/system/files/2025-09/edpb_guidelines_202503_interplay-dsa-gdpr_v1_en.pdf  

 

ü    In praise of recitals (& Explanatory Memoranda), 10 September 2025, available at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5467126

ü    First do no harm: The potential of harm being caused to fundamental rights and freedoms by state cybersecurity interventions, 2nd edition, in: Ben Wagner, Matthias C. Kettemann and Kilian Vieth (Eds.), Research Handbook on Human Rights & Digital Technology: Global Politics, Law & International Relations, CIHR, Berlin/Elgar Publishing, UK & USA (updating the same chapter in the 2019 1st edition, listed below under that year). Published on 30 January 2025 at:

https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/research-handbook-on-human-rights-and-digital-technology-9781035308507.html

2024

ü    Did the PNR judgment address the core issues?, follow-up to my opinion on the core Issues in the case, prepared at the request of the Fundamental Rights European Experts Group (FREE Group) in November 2021 (see under that year), published in the European Law Journal, 2 January 2024, available at:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eulj.12480

ü    The data protection implications of the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education, paper written at the request of Privacy International and DefendDigitalMe, January 2024 (with Jen Persson).*

ü    AI & the GDPR, paper written in preparation of the above paper, January 2024.*

* These papers were used by Privacy International in its long online article, “Studying under Surveillance: the securitisation of learning”, 7 November 2024, available at:

https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/5463/studying-under-surveillance-securitisation-learning

(See the acknowledgment at the end.)


 

2023

ü    The Indian Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, viewed from a European perspective, October 2023, available at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4614984 (full report)

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4614992 (executive summary)

ü    UK tribunal fundamentally wrong on Clearview, October 2023, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2023/10/18/uk-tribunal-fundamentally-wrong-on-clearview/

ü    Tricking an AI system & the Cybercrime Convention, 25 September 2023, available at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4584116 (SSRN)

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2023/09/27/is-tricking-an-ai-system-hacking-under-the-cybercrime-convention/ (blog)

https://www.ianbrown.tech/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/KORFF-Tricking-an-AI-system-the-Cybercrime-Convention-230925.pdf (link from blog)

ü    Data protection in light of the EU common data spaces?, A critique of the European Commission Proposal for a Regulation on a Framework for Financial Data Access & of the European Data Protection Supervisor’s Opinion on the proposal (Opinion 38/2023), with some broader observations, published on 5 September 2023, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2023/09/05/data-protection-in-light-of-the-eu-common-data-spaces/

ü    The Limitations of and Flaws in Algorithmic/AI-Based Technologies,* May 2023, available at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4437110

ü    The Lack of Data on the Effectiveness of Mass Surveillance,* May 2023, available at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4437119

*The above two short papers reproduce (with minor editorial changes) two sections of my 2021 Opinion on Core Issues in the PNR CJEU Case, prepared at the request of the Fundamental Rights European Experts Group (FREE Group): see under that year, below.

2022

ü    The Inadequacy of the October 2022 New US Presidential Executive Order on Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities, November 2022, available at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4495169

ü    Opinion on the implications of the exclusion from new binding European instruments on the use of AI in military, national security and transnational law enforcement contexts, written at the request of the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), October 2022, available at:

https://ecnl.org/sites/default/files/2022-10/ECNL%20Opinion%20AI%20national%20security.pdf (full opinion)

https://ecnl.org/sites/default/files/2022-10/ECNL%20Opinion%20AI%20national%20security_exec%20summary_0.pdf (executive summary)

ü    Will the EU-US Privacy Framework succeed where the Privacy Shield and Safe Harbour failed?, (Some brief initial comments on the announcement of an “agreement in principle” on a new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework & on the EDPB’s statement on the agreement in principle), 11 April 2022, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2022/04/11/will-the-eu-us-privacy-framework-succeed-where-the-privacy-shield-and-safe-harbour-failed/ (blog summary)

https://www.ianbrown.tech/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Early-comments-on-TADPF.pdf (full text)

ü    Update on the Opinion on the future of personal data transfers from the EU/EEA to Israel & the Occupied Territories (see 2021, below, third listing), 23 February 2022, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2022/02/23/israels-privacy-protection-act-amendments-and-eu-adequacy/ (blog summary)

https://www.ianbrown.tech/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/KORFF-Opinion-update-EU-Israel-data-transfers-final220223-2.pdf (full text)

ü    The EU's own 'Snowden Scandal': illegal mass surveillance and bulk data data mining by Europol and the EU Member States, January 2022, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2022/01/17/the-eus-own-snowden-scandal/ (blog)

https://www.ianbrown.tech/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/KORFF-The-EUs-own-Snowden-Scandal-with-endnotes-jan2022.pdf (full article with notes)

https://edri.org/our-work/the-eus-own-snowden-scandal-europols-data-mining/

(Short version with link)

2021:

ü    Note on the GDPR and US-based cloud servers, November 2021, available at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4495293

ü    Opinion on Core Issues in the PNR CJEU Case, prepared at the request of the Fundamental Rights European Experts Group (FREE Group), November 2021, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2021/12/11/opinion-on-the-passenger-name-record-cjeu-case/

(blog with links to:)

https://www.ianbrown.tech/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/KORFF-FREE-Paper-on-Core-Issues-in-the-PNR-Case.pdf (full opinion, 147 pages)

https://www.ianbrown.tech/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/KORFF-PNR-Case-Executive-Summary.pdf (executive summary, 27 pages)

Retweeted at: EU Law Analysis blog, 14 December 2021:

https://eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2021/12/is-passenger-name-record-directive.html

EDRigram, 15 December 2021:

https://edri.org/our-work/data-protection-and-digital-competition/

ü    Amid the spying by EU Member States’ intelligence agencies, is EU law silent?, a follow-up to the papers on the inadequacy of UK data protection law (see below, 2020), August 2021, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2021/08/27/amid-the-spying-by-eu-member-states-intelligence-agencies-is-eu-law-silent/

ü    Opinion on the future of personal data transfers from the EU/EEA to Israel & the Occupied Territories, prepared at the request of the European Middle East Project, EuMEP, January 2021, published July 2021 at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/KORFF-Opinion-EU-Israel-data-transfers-final.pdf (full text)

https://www.ianbrown.tech/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/KORFF-Exec-Summ-EU-Israel-data-transfers-final.pdf (executive summary)

ü    Exchanges of personal data after the Schrems II judgment, study carried out with Ian Brown at the request of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties (LIBE) Committee into the future of EU – US flows of personal data, July 2021, available at:

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2021/694678/IPOL_STU(2021)694678_EN.pdf

Video recording of online presentation of the study to the LIBE Committee (with slides) on 9 November 2021, available at:

https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/committee-on-civil-liberties-justice-and-home-affairs_20211109-0900-COMMITTEE-LIBE_vd?start=20211109084550&end=20211109091907

ü    Transfers of personal data from the EU – not a “Mission Impossible”, 22 April 2021, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2021/04/22/transfers-of-personal-data-from-the-eu-not-a-mission-impossible/

ü    The inadequacy of the EU Commission’s Draft GDPR Adequacy Decision on the UK, 3 March 2021, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2021/03/03/the-inadequacy-of-the-eu-commissions-draft-gdpr-adequacy-decision-on-the-uk/

ü    UK adequacy, international transfers, and human rights compliance, 2 February 2021, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2021/02/02/uk-adequacy-international-transfers-and-human-rights-compliance/

ü    “The United Kingdom is not a third country under EU law”, 2 January 2021, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2021/01/02/the-united-kingdom-is-not-a-third-country-under-eu-law/

2020

ü    The inadequacy of UK data protection law in general and in view of UK surveillance laws (with some comments on the adequacy decisions on Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man & on the implications for other countries and territories including Gibraltar & EU Member States) (with Ian Brown), submission to the European Union bodies involved in assessing whether under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) the United Kingdom should be held to provide “adequate” protection to personal data:

 

Part One on general inadequacy of UK data protection law, submitted on 9 October 2020, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/2020/10/09/the-uks-inadequate-data-protection-framework/

 

Part Two on UK surveillance law, submitted on 30 November 2020, available at:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Korff-Brown-Submission-to-EU-re-UK-adequacy-Part-Two-DK-IB201130.pdf

Executive Summary and discussion of the implications, also submitted on 30 November 2020:

https://www.ianbrown.tech/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Korff-Brown-Submission-to-EU-re-UK-adequacy-ExecSumm-DK-IB201130.pdf

ü    Contribution to EDRi’s Data Retention: Revisited booklet, published on 28 September 2020, available at:

https://edri.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Data_Retention_Revisited_Booklet.pdf

ü    Comments on Prof. Chris Kuner's blog Schrems II Re-Examined of 25 August 2020, August 2020, available at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3681389

ü    GDPR requirements on Data Protection Impact Assessments & methodologies for DPIAs, July 2020, available at:

https://ssrn.com//abstract_id=3656234

ü    Contribution to the appeal by EDRi to the European Commission and the EU Member States to ban the use of face recognition technology for mass surveillance, 13 May 2020, available at:

https://edri.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Paper-Ban-Biometric-Mass-Surveillance.pdf

ü    Drafter of Submission by the FREE Group to the European Commission review of the GDPR, 29 April 2020, available at:

https://free-group.eu/2020/04/29/free-group-remarks-on-the-implementation-of-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/

ü    The Origins and Meaning of Data Protection, 13 January 2020 (with Marie Georges), available at:

https://ssrn.com/abstract=3518386

2019

ü    The Territorial (and Extra-Territorial) Application of the GDPR With Particular Attention to Groups of Companies Including Non-EU Companies and to Companies and Groups of Companies That Offer Software-as-a-Service, August 2019, available at:

https://ssrn.com/abstract=3439293

Executive Summary available, at:

https://ssrn.com/abstract=3439295

ü    The DPO Handbook, Guidance for data protection officers in the public and quasi‐public sectors on how to ensure compliance with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, July 2019 (with Marie Georges), 246 pages:

http://www.fondazionebasso.it/2015/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/T4DATA-MANUAL-2019.pdf

The Handbook was prepared in the context of an EU-funded programme of Training of Trainers from various EU Member States’ data protection authorities (Grant Agreement number: 769100 — T4DATA — REC-DATA-2016/REC-DATA-2016-01), January 2018 – November 2019. A brochure on the project can be found here:

http://www.fondazionebasso.it/2015/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/T4Data_Brochure.pdf

ü    The importance of voice biometrics in the healthcare industry, June 2019, available at:

https://www.biometricupdate.com/201906/the-importance-of-voice-biometrics-in-the-healthcare-industry

2018

ü    Comments on the Draft Guidelines on the Accreditation of Certification Bodies (WP261), submitted on 6 April 2018, published by EDRi at:

https://edri.org/files/EDRi_comments_on_WP261_re-accreditation.pdf

Explanatory entry in EDRigram 16.9 of 2 May 2018, available at:

https://edri.org/are-gdpr-certification-schemes-the-next-data-transfer-disaster/

ü    Generalised monitoring of communications in order to block “undesirable” Internet content, February 2018, available at:

https://edri.org/files/copyright/20180213-Korff-GeneralisedMonitoringOnlineContent.pdf

(This is an edited and slightly expanded version of one section in the paper First do no harm, listed below.)

ü    First do no harm: The potential of harm being caused to fundamental rights and freedoms by state cybersecurity interventions, February 2018, in: Ben Wagner, Matthias C. Kettemann and Kilian Vieth (Eds.), Research Handbook on Human Rights & Digital Technology: Global Politics, Law & International Relations, CIHR, Berlin/Elgar Publishing, UK & USA, 2019.

(This is an extended and updated version of the 2017 paper on Cyber Harm Caused to Fundamental Rights and Freedoms by State Cybersecurity Interventions, listed under that year, below. An updated 2nd edition of the book, and this chapter, is due for publication in early-2025: see under that year, above.)

ü    Signatory to Amicus Brief on Behalf of EU Data Protection and Data Privacy Scholars in United States v. Microsoft Corp., (U.S. Supreme Court), filed 18 January 2018, available at:

https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-2/28272/20180118141249281_17-2%20BSAC%20Brief.pdf

(Cf. also the separate amicus brief submitted by Privacy International and a range of human and digital rights organisations I am involved with, including EDRi and FIPR, available at:

https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-2/28354/20180118170547648_17-2%20USA%20v%20Microsoft%20Brief%20of%20Privacy%20International%20Human%20and%20Digital%20Rights%20Organizations%20and%20International%20Legal%20Scholars%20as%20Amici%20Curiae%20in%20Support%20of%20Respondent.pdf)

2017

ü    40th Birthday Wishes for DVD & DANA, Datenschutznachrichten (DANA), 3/2017 (December 2017), p. 134, available at:

https://www.datenschutzverein.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DANA_17_3_Sonderheft-40_Jahre_DVD.pdf

ü    Fundamental rights on the internet: Has the Court of Justice of the European Union forgotten about our freedom of expression and information?, EDRi Research Paper containing an analysis of Case C-131/12, Google Spain SL, Google Inc. v Agencia Española de Protección de Datos and Mario Costeja González (the “Right to be forgotten” case) and Case C-314/12, UPC Telekabel Wien GmbH v Constantin Film Verleih GmbH (the Telekabel case), December 2017, to be published in the European Data Protection Law journal in 2018. Co-author, with Annika Linck (lead author) and Joe McNamee, Maryant Fernández Pérez, Diego Naranjo and Anne-Morgane Devriendt (further co-authors).

ü    Significant input into EDRi’s answers to an EU Public consultation on improving cross-border access to electronic evidence in criminal matters that drew on the EDRi Comments and Suggestions mentioned in the next indent, and in particular into the Annexe to the EDRis answers, submitted on 27 October 2017, available here:

https://edri.org/files/consultations/e-evidence_edriresponse_20171027.pdf

https://edri.org/files/consultations/annexconsultatione-evidence_20171026.pdf

(My input is acknowledged in footnote 1 in the Annexe, on p. 1)

ü    Note on the Draft Terms of Reference for drafting a second optional Protocol to the Cybercrime Convention, which formed the basis for a global civil society submission to the Council of Europe with Comments and Suggestions on those Draft Terms of Reference, submitted on 18 September 2017, available at:

https://edri.org/files/surveillance/cybercrime_2ndprotocol_globalsubmission_e-evidence_20170908.pdf

(My work is acknowledged in footnote 3 to the submission, on p. 2)

EDRi Press Release:

https://edri.org/cross-border-access-data-edri-delivers-international-ngo-position-council-europe/

The Council of Europe welcomed the submission:

https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/new-legal-tool-on-electronic-evidence-council-of-europe-welcomes-civil-society-opinion

NB: This global submission followed on from an EDRi submission of an earlier analysis by me of the final report of the Council of Europe “Cloud Evidence Group” (CEG), submitted to the Council of Europe by EDRi in November 2016, referenced below.

ü    Commentary on Article 91 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (on data protection for churches and other religious associations and communities), to be included in a major Commentary on the EU General Data Protection Regulation, edited by Mark Cole and Franziska Boehm et al. This was due for publication in 2020 but does not appear to have been published.

ü    Papers prepared for an EU Study on data requirements for the European Citizens’ Initiative (JUST/DG.C.4/2016/01), January – August 2017:

-        ECIs & Data Protection (July 2017);

-        ECIs & Data Sensitivity (July 2017);

-        Note on the data protection status and liabilities of the EU Commission and ECI organisers in relation to the Commission-provided ECI Online Collection System (OCS) (August 2017)

Also:

-        Major contributions to the Interim and Final Reports on the study, in particular on risk assessments and options for reform.

Final report, 22 September 2017, available at:

https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2019-12/Study%20on%20data%20requirements%20-final%20report%20%5BEN%5D.pdf

ü    Cyber Harm Caused to Fundamental Rights and Freedoms by State Cybersecurity Interventions, paper written for the University of Oxford Oxford Martin School’s Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC) expert workshop on “Cyber Harm”, Oxford, February 2017, available at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3709808

(An extended and updated version of this paper was included as a chapter in the Research Handbook on Human Rights & Digital Technology: Global Politics, Law & International Relations: see under 2019, above. An updated 2nd edition of that book, and this chapter, is due for publication in early-2025: see under that year, above.)

ü    Boundaries of Law: Exploring Transparency, Accountability, and Oversight of Government Surveillance Regimes, comparative report covering Colombia, DR Congo, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Kenya, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, USA, prepared for the World Wide Web Foundation, (lead author, with Ben Wagner, Julia Powles, Renata Avila and Ulf Buermeyer), global report, January 2017, available at:

https://ssrn.com/abstract=2894490


 

2016

ü    Key Points re the Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-Cy) Report: Criminal justice access to electronic evidence in the cloud: Recommendations for consideration by the T-CY, Final report of the T-CY Cloud Evidence Group (T-CY (2016)5, 16 September 2016), Note prepared for European Digital Rights (EDRi) and sent by EDRi to the Council of Europe with a covering letter in November 2016, available at:

https://edri.org/files/surveillance/korff_note_coereport_leaaccesstocloud%20data_final.pdf

(NB: This Note was followed by a wider submission by global NGOs in September 2017, again based on an analysis by me, referenced above.)

ü    National Courts and EU Trade Policy Powers: the EU/Canada trade deal and the German Constitutional Court, brief analysis of the German Constitutional Court ruling refusing a request for an interim injunction to prevent the German Government from signing the CETA Agreement, published in the EU Law Analysis blog, 18 October 2016, available at:

http://eulawanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/

ü    The Practical Implications of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation for EU- and non-EU Companies (with a one-page executive summary), August 2016, presented at CMS Cameron McKenna LLP in February 2017.

ü    The Internet of Things: Security-, Privacy- & Data Protection Risks, report written for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (with Ian Brown, University of Oxford), due for publication later in 2016.

ü    Maintaining Trust in a Digital Connected Society, report written for the International Telecommunications Union (ITU); presented at the ITU’s 16th Global Symposium for Regulators, held at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in May 2016, available here:

http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Conferences/GSR/Documents/ITU_MaintainingTrust_GSR16.pdf

ü    Privacy seals in the new EU General Data Protection Regulation: Threat or facilitator? Part 2: What has it turned out to be?, in: Datenschutznachrichten (DANA), 2/2016 (July 2016), available here:

https://www.datenschutzverein.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/DANA_2-2016_RoteLinienRevisited_Web.pdf (scroll to p. 77)

[NB: This is a follow-up to the 2015 DANA article, listed below, under that year]

ü    E-Privacy Directive Revision: An analysis from civil society groups (main contributor, working with other EDRi experts), July 2016, available at:

https://edri.org/files/epd-revision/EDRi_ePrivacyDir-final.pdf

ü    Proceed with caution: Flexibilities in the General Data Protection Regulation, detailed analysis prepared for EDRi (main author, working with other EDRi experts), July 2016, available at:

https://edri.org/files/GDPR_analysis/EDRi_analysis_gdpr_flexibilities.pdf

2015

ü    Note on the EU-US Umbrella Data Protection Agreement, prepared for the Fundamental Rights European Experts (FREE) group, October 2015, available at:

http://free-group.eu/2015/10/14/eu-us-umbrella-data-protection-agreementdetailed-analysis-by-douwe-korff/

http://www.statewatch.org/news/2015/oct/eu-usa-umbrella-freegroup-Korff-Note.pdf

ü    Privacy seals in the new EU General Data Protection Regulation: Threat or Facilitator?, in: Rote Linien zur EU-DSGVO, in: Datenschutznachrichten (DANA), 3/2015 (August 2015), available here:

https://www.datenschutzverein.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/DANA_3-2015_RoteLinien_Web.pdf (scroll to p. 128)

ü    Passenger Name Records, data mining & data protection: the need for strong safeguards, report prepared for the Consultative Committee of the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (T-PD) of the Council of Europe, written with Marie Georges and presented to the Committee in June 2015, available at:

https://rm.coe.int/16806a601b

2014

ü    The rule of law on the Internet and in the wider digital world, “Issue Paper” written for the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, released December 2014, available in English (with the executive summary and the Commissioner’s recommendations also available in French, Turkish and Russian) at:

https://rm.coe.int/ref/CommDH/IssuePaper(2014)1

ü    Expert Opinion, prepared for the Committee of Inquiry of the German Bundestag into the “5EYES” global surveillance systems revealed by Edward Snowden, presented at the Committee Hearing, Berlin, 5 June 2014, available at:

http://www.bundestag.de/blob/282874/8f5bae2c8f01cdabd37c746f98509253/mat_a_sv-4-3_korff-pdf-data.pdf (full text in English, in spite of what it says on the cover page):

http://www.bundestag.de/blob/282876/b90dd97242f605aa69a39d563f9532e7/mat_a_sv-4-3_korff_zusammenfassung-pdf-data.pdf (summary in English)

ü    Legal Analysis supporting the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance, issued by a global consortium of civil society organisations, of which I wrote the first draft, May 2014, available at:

https://necessaryandproportionate.org/files/2016/03/29/background_and_supporting_legal_analysis_en.pdf (I wrote the first draft, subsequently expanded upon by others: see the acknowledgments on p. 1)

ü    Foreign surveillance: law and practice in a global digital environment (with Ian Brown), European Human Rights Law Review, 2014(3) (April 2014), available at:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2521433

ü    Powerpoint presentation to the Committe on Legal Affairs & Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE – LA) on Mass Surveillance in Context, Strasbourg, 8 April 2014:

(powerpoint slides available on request)

ü    Contribution to a Terrorism prevention scenario, prepared in the EU SURVEILLE project by a team led by Prof. Scheinin of the European University Institute in Florence (IT), April 2014, with a chart illustrating “The full surveillance analyses context”.

ü    Surveillance law and practice (with Ian Brown), late-2013 to early-2014, study carried out at the request of the UN University as part of a research project on the application of international human rights law to national regimes overseeing governmental digital surveillance, requested by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, unpublished but described in her report to the UNGA, The right to privacy in the digital age, as providing “a major substantive contribution to the preparation of [the report]” – para. 8 of the report, available at:

http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/DigitalAge/A-HRC-27-37_en.doc

2013

ü    Article on Surveillance and the EU general data protection regulation: possibilities, limits and obstacles, Datenschutznachrichten, December 2013

ü    Submission by the European Digital Rights Initiative (EDRi) & Fundamental Rights Experts Group (FREE) to the United States Congress, the European Parliament, the European Commission & the Council of the European Union, & the Secretary-General & the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the surveillance activities of the United States and certain European States’ national security and “intelligence” agencies, August 2013:

http://www.edri.org/files/submission_free_edri130801.pdf

Press release re presentation of the submission to the chair of the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE), 4 September 2013:

http://www.edri.org/edri_free

ü    Note on European & International Law on Trans-National Surveillance, prepared for the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament to assist the Committee in its enquiries into USA and European States’ surveillance, August 2013, available with related powerpoint slides from:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/organes/libe/libe_20131014_1500.htm

ü    Report on The Use of the Internet and Related Services, Private Life & Data Protection:  trends & technologies, threats & implications, March 2013:

https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=090000168067f7f4

2012

ü    Paper expanding on a short intervention on behalf of European Digital Rights (EDRi) at the EU – USA Privacy Conference in Washington DC, 19 March 2012, available at:

https://edri.org/files/korff120319.pdf

ü    Comments on Selected Topics in the Draft EU Data Protection Regulation (prepared for the European Digital Rights Initiative, EDRi):

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2150145

Summaries and Proposed Amendments only, at:

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2150151

ü    Digital Freedoms in International Law (with Dr. Ian Brown of the Oxford Internet Institute of the University of Oxford), June 2012, prepared for the Global Network Initiative, available at:

https://globalnetworkinitiative.org/sites/default/files/Digital%20Freedoms%20in%20International%20Law.pdf

Executive Summary at:

https://globalnetworkinitiative.org/sites/default/files/Digital%20Freedoms%20Exec%20Summary.pdf


 

2011

ü    A chapter (Chapter 6) on Social Media and Human Rights in the COE publication “Human Rights and a changing media landscape”, Council of Europe Publishing, December 2011 (with Ian Brown, University of Oxford).

Available at:

http://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/Activities/themes/MediaFreedom/MediaLandscape2011.pdf

ü    Opinion on the compatibility of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) with the European Convention on Human Rights & the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (with Ian Brown, University of Oxford), August 2011, prepared at the request of the Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament.

Available at:

http://rfc.act-on-acta.eu/fundamental-rights

(NB: a clearer pdf version was put on the Dutch Groen Links website at:

http://groenlinks.nl/files/ACTA%20and%20Fundamental%20Rights.pdf)

ü    Using NHS patient data for research without consent (with Ian Brown and Lindsey Brown), in Law, Innovation & Technology, January 2011.

Print proof version available at:

http://ssrn.com/abstract=1753029

2010

ü    European data protection law on the taking of fully automated decisions, presentation at the Annual Conference of the (UK) National Association of Data Protection Officers (NADPO), London, November 2010)

ü    Expert presentation to European Parliament Civil Liberties (LIBE) Committee, at a hearing on “Data Protection in a Transatlantic Perspective:  Future EU-US data protection agreement in the framework of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters”, 25 October 2010:

-        Video of the hearing:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/wps-europarl-internet/frd/vod/player?eventCode=20101025-1500-COMMITTEE-LIBE&language=en&byLeftMenu=researchcommittee&category=COMMITTEE&format=wmv#anchor1 (NB: plays in IE only)

-        Handout, put up with background papers on:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/hearingsCom.do;jsessionid=C558E50A480FF6BA3B70E1A3ED551257?language=EN&body=LIBE

Handout itself:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/document/activities/cont/201010/20101027ATT90677/20101027ATT90677EN.pdf

-            Note on US Ambassador comments (submitted after the hearing):

put up with main committee docs on:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/organes/libe/libe_20101025_1500_audition.htm

Note itself:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/libe/dv/03_korff_note_dataprotection_/03_korff_note_dataprotection_en.pdf 

ü    Technologies for the use of images; Automated processes of identification, behavioural analysis and risk detection; Control at the airports, presentation at a Seminar on Security, Privacy & Data Protection, organised by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), Madrid, June 2010, to be published at the end of 2010, available at:

http://ssrn.com/abstract=1673772

ü    “Spat” with Prof. Nigel Shadbolt in the British Science Association’s online Magazine People & Science, March 2010, on the topic of Public information: cause for celebration or concern?, available from:

http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/NR/rdonlyres/9B5B96B3-90B0-4A9D-9095-59ED66B93EDC/0/peoplesciencemar2010FINAL.pdf (see pp. 10 - 11).

ü    Results from the EU “New Challenges to data protection” study (full title: “Comparative study on different approaches to new privacy challenges, in particular in the light of technological developments”), January 2010, led by Douwe Korff and Ian Brown:

-           Final Report (56 pages), with a 5-page Executive Summary, available at:

https://op.europa.eu/da/publication-detail/-/publication/9c7a02b9-ecba-405e-8d93-a1a8989f128b

Sole author of the following papers and reports produced for this study:

-           Comparative Chart;

-           Working Paper No. 2:  Data protection laws in the EU:  The difficulties in meeting the challenges posed by global social and technical developments (120 pages);

-           Country Report – France;

-           Country Report – Germany;

-           Country Report – United Kingdom.

These are no longer available from the EU Commission website but can be found here:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1638951 (Comparative Chart)

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1638949 (Working Paper No. 2)

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1638955 (France)

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1638959 (Germany)

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1638938 (United Kingdom)

2009

ü    Evaluation of the contribution of Working Party 29 to the work of the Commission in the field of Data Protection – final report, April 2009 (with Charles Raab, Yves Poullet, Norbert Wimmer, Thomas Mueller and Dieter Wagner), report on a study commissioned by the European Commission.  (Used internally by the Commission and not published)

ü    Thematic Study on assessment of data protection measures and relevant institutions [United Kingdom], February 2009, country report produced for a project commissioned by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, available at:

https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/role-data-protection-authorities-2009-uk.pdf

ü    Terrorism and the Proportionality of Internet Surveillance (with I Brown), European Journal of Criminology, March 2009, available at: SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1261194

ü    Forensic genomics:  kin privacy, driftnets and other open questions (with F. Stajano, L. Bianchi & P. Li`o), paper submitted in May 2008 for the Workshop on Privacy in Electronic Society (WPES), Alexandria (VA), USA, October 2008.  See:

https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~fms27/papers/2008-StajanoBiaLioKor-genomics.pdf

2008

ü    The need to apply UK data protection law in accordance with European law, Data Protection Law & Practice, May 2008.

ü    European Privacy Seal  - Criteria Catalogue (with Sebastian Meissner and Thomas Probst) and associated Commentary, several versions produced in the context of the “EuroPriSe” project, November 2008 – May 2009. These documents are only available to accredited experts and participating certification bodies.

(NB: This catalogue were replaced in 2024 with a new set of criteria for use by the experts of the now officially EU-accredited EuroPriSe Certification Body. I am one of those experts.)

ü    Protecting the Right to Privacy in the Fight Against Terrorism, Issue Paper of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, November 2008, available at:

https://rm.coe.int/ref/CommDH/IssuePaper(2008)3

2007

ü    Issues of confidentiality and privacy of data with relation to HIV, presentation at a (UK) National Aids Trust and Aids Action Europe seminar on Legislation and judicial systems in relation to HIV and AIDS, seminar report, December 2007, pp. 29-32.  The report can be downloaded from:

http://www.nat.org.uk/document/420.

2006

ü    Childrens Databases  - Safety & Privacy (with FIPR team), study for the UK Information Commissioner, 2006, available at:

https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/kids.pdf

2005

ü    Data Protection Laws in the European Union, FEDMA, Brussels, and DMA-USA, New York, December 2005  - consisting of a main volume in hardback and two CD-ROMs, as follows:

-           Main volume (in hardback): The EC Directives on data protection

-           CD-ROM Volume 1:  Annexes and Source Documents (including the Comparative Summary of National [Data Protection] Laws, listed separately, below)

-           CD-ROM Volume 2:  Data Protection Laws of 15 Member States of the EU Analyzed:  Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

2004

ü    Privacy and Law Enforcement (with Ian Brown), study for the UK Information Commissioner, released on the Commissioner’s website in September 2004 as “Striking the Right Balance: Respecting the Privacy of Individuals and Protecting the Public from Crime”:

http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/eventual.aspx?id=6840

ü    Terrorist Designation with Regard to European and International Law:  The Case of the PMOI (with prof Bill Bowring), 2004

2003

ü    Comparative Summary of National laws, a comparative analysis of the data protection laws of the EU Member States, written as part of a study on implementation of the EC Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC), commissioned by the European Commission. Part published by the Commission no longer available on the Commission website, but the full study can be found here:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1287667

[Note:  this was the fourth study by me for the European Commission:  on the earlier ones, see below.]

Some selected papers and publications from before 2003:

ü    Paper on “Privacy in a Business: An Operational Model”, published (in Italian) in the proceedings of an international conference on “Privacy, Cost to Resource”, organised by the Italian data protection authority in Rome in December 2002.

ü    European data protection law & the Internet:  a briefing on the Opinions and Recommendations of the Working Party established under Art. 29 of the EC Directive on data protection, relevant to the collecting, storing, dissemination and use of personal data on the Internet, prepared for the Privacy Leadership Initiative, December 2000.

ü    Note on the Proposal for a Regulation on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by Community institutions and bodies (COM (1999) 337 final), prepared at the request of Justice for submission to the House of Lords sub-committee on social affairs, education and home affairs, January 2000

ü    The question of “applicable law”, in: Compliance Guide 3 – Interim report (part of the New UK Data Protection Act 1998 Information & Compliance Programme), Privacy Laws & Business, November 1999

ü    Three major studies for the Commission of the European Communities into:

-           The protection of the rights and interests of legal persons with regard to the processing of personal data relating to such persons (1997, published 2000).

-           The feasibility of a seamless system of data protection rules for the European Union (1996 – 97, published 1999);

-           Existing case-law on compliance with data protection laws and principles in the Member States of the European Union (1997, published 1998), available at:

https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/c74c4856-95ce-4763-9662-1f8eeddfe9c6/language-en

ü    Data Protection Law & International trade, paper prepared for the American Chamber of Commerce Seminar on The Impact of Data Protection on Global Trade, Brussels, 1997

ü    Europol Briefing for a workshop on European Police and Legal Space, held in Bilbao, June 1994.  The briefing linked data protection, human rights and constitutional EU-matters.

ü    The EC Draft Directive on data protection and the question of “applicable law”, 1994, originally an unpublished briefing for the direct marketing industry but subsequently published in a slightly edited German translation as Der EG-Richtlinienentwurf über Datenschutz und “anwendbares Recht”, in: Recht der Datenverarbeitung, Year 10 (1994), Vol. No. 5- 6, p. 209 ff.

ü    Data Protection Law in Practice in the European Union, FEDIM, Brussels (1993) (NB: a new edition was published in 2004: see above).

ü    International Data Protection, in: Interights Bulletin, Vol. 6, Number 4 (1991), p. 57 (front page) and pp. 59 - 62

ü    A series of detailed briefings on the various drafts, amendments and revised drafts of an EC-Council Directive on data protection for FEDMA, Brussels, 1990 – 1995.

ü    The Schengen Information System:  also a question of data protection, in: G P M F Mols (ed.), Dissonanten bij het akkoord van Schengen, Deventer, 1990

ü    The revised United Nations Guidelines concerning computerized personal data files – with notes and comments by Amnesty International, 1988

ü    Data protection and the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authorities and regardless of frontiers, outline of a talk presented at a meeting of the Legal Section of the International Association for Mass Communication Research, Barcelona, (1988).

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