Intellectual Property, Privacy, & IT

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In the United States, information that a company collects about the customer is legally the company's property. In the European Union, this information is the individual's property. Explain why there is this difference in the legal treatment of this information.

The European Union's Data Protection Directive regulates, through the government, the control of a customer's privacy. In comparison, the United States has not enacted a single data protection law, instead, relying on a combination of self-regulation, industry regulation, and legislation to determine ownership of personal information that is collected by companies. This is in part due to the concept that while privacy is an implicit right of American citizens, it is not clearly and uncategorically defined by the Constitution. In general, it is believed that Europeans have a different mindset, and are more distrustful of the transfer of data then Americans. Some U.S. officials also believe that America has stronger consumer protection laws that protect consumers, making a blanket law like the EU's Data Protection Directive unnecessary. In addition, American businesses have been very active in lobbying against enacting the privacy restrictions found in the EU. By collecting the information, American companies are able to build user profiles, store and trade information, which facilitates their businesses.

Here is a link to a recent story about this issue: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/26/technology/eu-privacy-proposal-lays-bare-differences-with-us.html

What do we mean by "intellectual property"? What are the differences between intellectual property and real property? Should someone be able to own intellectual property? Why or why not?

Intellectual property is a creation of the mind, for instance, an invention, literary or artistic work. It can also refer to a symbol, name or image used in commerce. Intellectual property is divided into ...