Available From UC Press

A practical, user-friendly handbook for understanding and protecting our personal data and digital privacy.
 
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.

Jacqueline D. Lipton is a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law whose research and writing focus on digital technology law. She is also the author of Law and Authors: A Legal Handbook for Writers.
 

"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