The Cost of Free Speech: Is Your Personal Data Safe?

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the supremacy accorded to free speech by the First Amendment of the American Constitution and in contrast, the European Union’s 2018 General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] that highlights data protection. It compares speech as a fundamental human right in US law with the GDPR that champions individual and social rights in personal data as constraints upon speech action. It evaluates US and EU law in light of the history of the law of privacy and the protection of personal information, as is reflected in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [ICCPR]. The article concludes by proposing a uniform and consistent regime for limiting freedom of expression in an era of mass exposure of personal data to harmful online dissemination on the global Internet of Things [IoT].