What Is Privacy? Rethinking Rights, Consent, and Control in the Digital Age

Abstract

Abstract Privacy is a precondition of dignity, autonomy, and democratic legitimacy. This chapter reconceptualizes privacy in an AI‑saturated economy by tracing its philosophical roots and codification and by comparing regulatory models in the EU, United States, Canada, China, and Indigenous data sovereignty frameworks. We diagnose structural limits of consent‑heavy regimes, commodification of personal data, and private surveillance infrastructures that states increasingly co‑opt. We then outline a program for effective protection that shifts responsibility from individuals to accountable institutions through rights‑based law, privacy‑preserving technical design (e.g., Global Privacy Control, Self-Sovereign Identity, Zero-Knowledge Proofs), and coordinated international governance. Treating privacy as a public good anchors the proposal.