Exploring the realm of privacy: the institutional process of the European Personal Data Privacy

The paper addresses the problem of privacy concerns and the impact of a common European legislative framework. The aim is to evaluate the relationship between public opinion and policy development in EU member countries and specifically the presence of different institutional regimes of privacy. Privacy rights in contemporary society are threatened and at the same favored by globalization and technological advancement in telecommunication. In the last decade their protection was put at risk by security and market implications and institutional actions were promoted by governments and international organizations. The European Union represents one of the main international actors in pursuing protection of personal information and privacy rights. In particular, the European approach distinguishes itself because the development of the privacy policy had its start from a common agreement on the nature of this basic human right and the proactive role that national governments should have in enacting its exercise by citizens. The analysis described in the paper concentrate on the role of the so called Data controllers (companies) and using data from a European survey describes the presence of different levels of awareness for privacy issues and towards social change in communications.