The Balance between the Data Protection Law Regime and Modern Technologies: Collision or Collaboration? − A Comparative Study of Regulatory Instruments in the EU and Taiwan

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to discuss and evaluate how to strike a balance between the benefits and the risks of biometric and Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) technologies within a data protection regime. This presents a problem because of the lack of an applicable theoretical framework and clear guidelines and principles for legal regulations to deal with such technologies. The theory chosen here is the Principle of Generic Consistency (PGC), which has been justified as the basic principle of human rights in any given community.

This thesis then elaborates on specific applications of the PGC in relation to various issues by defining relevant privacy concepts and describing how they are analysed to allow the identification, evaluation, and comparison of competing rights and interests in a specific conflict. Probing and evaluating current regulation of technologies at stake in Europe and Taiwan, it is argued that the right to benefit from advances in science and technology and the right to privacy are bound to come into conflict.

However, it is problematic to suggest that the balancing of competing rights is a zero-sum trade-off. Instead, in line with the broad concept of privacy, it is contended that there is the possibility for the two sets of values to support each other. In this case, the thesis suggests a co-operative framework, which relies on a consistent approach to maintain valid consent, precautionary and preventive measures to tackle the risks of developing such technologies, and an independent institutional framework for personal data protection.

Lastly, the thesis proposes a PGC-derived regulatory framework and model for Taiwan. As the Formosan hydra-headed bureaucracy model generates inconsistent data protection consequences, it is suggested that an institutional framework comprising an independent regulatory body might be able to assist the success of the co-operative model more effectively.