Jacqueline D. Lipton discusses her new book

Our Data, Ourselves: A Personal Guide to Digital Privacy

published by University of California Press

With the repeal of Roe V Wade and the weaponization of metadata used against women seeking healthcare, the timeliness of this new work cannot be understated. Jacqueline D. Lipton has produced a practical, user-friendly handbook for understanding and protecting our personal data and digital privacy in these perilous times.

Our Data, Ourselves addresses a common and crucial question: What can we as private individuals do to protect our personal information in a digital world? In this practical handbook, legal expert Jacqueline D. Lipton guides readers through important issues involving technology, data collection, and digital privacy as they apply to our daily lives.

Our Data, Ourselves covers a broad range of everyday privacy concerns with easily digestible, accessible overviews and real-world examples. Lipton explores the ways we can protect our personal data and monitor its use by corporations, the government, and others. She also explains our rights regarding sensitive personal data like health insurance records and credit scores, as well as what information retailers can legally gather, and how. Who actually owns our personal information? Can an employer legally access personal emails? What privacy rights do we have on social media? Answering these questions and more, Our Data, Ourselves provides a strategic approach to assuming control over, and ultimately protecting, our personal information.

Praise for Our Data, Ourselves

“There are few resources available for nonspecialists to learn about data privacy issues. This book fills this gap by providing a comprehensive overview of issues relevant to ordinary citizens, in language understandable by all.”—Carl H. Coleman, Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law

“A practical primer for anyone wishing to understand why and how their data is being used—and how individuals can attempt to protect themselves. Our Data, Ourselves also offers an overview of existing privacy protections and is ultimately a damning glimpse into the lack thereof in the United States.”—David Hickton, Founding Director, Pitt Cyber

Jacqueline D. Lipton is a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law whose research and writing focus on digital technology law. Professor Lipton has previously held faculty positions at the University of Houston Law Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, The University of Akron School of Law, the University of Nottingham School of Law, and Monash University Law School. She has also visited previously at the University of Florida and Melbourne University. Prior to her academic career, she worked in commercial and finance law in Australia. She is currently a fulltime visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Her scholarship focuses on law and digital technology, as well as law and the creative arts. She is the co-author of multiple editions of a leading cyberspace casebook (Cyberspace Law: Cases and Materials, (with Professor Raymond S. R. Ku) and the leading casebook on The Criminal Law of Intellectual Property (with Professors G. Moohr and I. Manta). She also authored Rethinking Cyberlaw (Edward Elgar, 2015); Internet Domain Names, Trademarks and Free Speech (Edward Elgar, 2010) Security Over Intangible Property (LBC Thompson, 2000) and Law and Authors: A Legal Handbook for Writers (University of California Press, 2020) . She has published in leading law reviews in the United States, Europe and Australia, including the Northwestern University Law Review, Boston College Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Wake Forest Law Review, Hastings Law Journal, UC Davis Law Review, Washington and Lee Law Review, Iowa Law Review, Florida Law Review, Maryland Law Review, Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, Berkeley Technology Law Journal, Monash University Law Review, and Singapore Journal of Legal Studies.

This event is made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation.