The book discusses the goals of privacy protection, the liberal individualist assumptions behind it and alternative social-value premises, and the neglected relationship between privacy and social equity. It considers the concepts of trust and risk in the processing of personal data. It describes and evaluates different policy instruments, as well as the efficacy of the ‘top-down’ statutory approach and its self-regulatory and technological alternatives. It looks at the interrelationships of policy instruments and their position in a global framework of regulation by regimes that include state and non-state actors. It considers whether a higher level of global privacy standards and protection will emerge.