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PRIVACY OF CITIZENS OF
GEORGIA IN THE GLOBAL
ELECTRONIC SPACE
THEA SHAKULASHVILI
PhD Student at Georgian Technical University,
Assistant Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Unit
As early as in 1890, famous American lawyers Samuel Warren and Louis
Brandeis(they were still young at that time)wrote in the essay “Right to Privacy”
that was published in Harvard Law Review that each individual is entitled to
control the information on himself to the same extent as his private property.
Nowadays, control of the flow of private information (collection, processing
and application of personal data) is one of the major and the most important
component of the constitutional right to privacy. Quick development of information
and communication technologies has put certain individuals as well as legislators
of democratic countries before a difficult dilemma starting from the 70s and 80s
of the last century – how to apply the recent technological achievement in a way
that to create less problems for people’s privacy.
Collection and processing of information on citizens’ personal and public
activities, keeping the information in electronic databases and the tendency of
their provision to interested parties in case of their interest, which undoubtedly
renders a priceless service to state bodies and employers, has put drafting of
legislation regulating the information flow and establishment of a special protection
regime for such informationon the agenda.
On January 28, 1981 the Council of Europe in Strasbourg has adopted the
“Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing
of Personal Data”. Georgia joined this convention in 2005 and on December 28,
2011 the Parliament adopted the law on “Personal Data Protection” which, in our
opinion, should be significantly amended in order to meet the goal listed in its
very first article about the protection of privacy.
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