Overview

This unit aims to introduce students to the meaning and value of privacy before examining the legal frameworks that deal with privacy and data protection. The impact of new technologies has renewed a focus on privacy protection in Australia. This unit considers the scope, nature and limits of privacy protection and the ongoing debates about privacy revolving around the introduction of new technologies. It also considers the legal policy and law reform debates about privacy protection.

Requisites

Prerequisites

75 credit points in Law units

Equivalent units

LAW30018 Privacy in Law and Society .

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
04-August-2025
02-November-2025
Last self-enrolment date
17-August-2025
Census date
31-August-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
19-September-2025
Results released date
09-December-2025
Teaching Period 3
Location
Online
Start and end dates
03-November-2025
08-February-2026
Last self-enrolment date
16-November-2025
Census date
28-November-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
02-January-2026
Results released date
03-March-2026

Unit learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  1. Analyse and evaluate contemporary debates over the role and nature of privacy law
  2. Examine privacy law’s relationship to government and commercial entities
  3. Discuss the development and evolution of privacy law in its historical and social context
  4. Conduct effective legal research of both primary and secondary legal materials, as well as relevant interdisciplinary materials

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Class		 3.00  12 weeks  36
Online
Lecture (asynchronous)		 1.00  12 weeks  12
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		 8.50  12 weeks  102
TOTAL     150

Swinburne Online

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Live Online
Class (synchronous)		 3.00  12 weeks  36
Online
Directed Online Learning		 1.00  12 weeks  12
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		 8.50  12 weeks  102
TOTAL     150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULOs
Presentation Individual  20 - 40%  2,3,4 
Research Essay Individual  60 - 80%  1,2,4 

Content

  • The purpose of privacy protection
  • Privacy and technology
  • The history and evolution of various privacy ideas and actions
  • The subject of privacy (gender, race, sex, class)
  • Privacy and institutional/social media
  • Data, profiling & identifiability
  • Privacy and countervailing/competing interests
  • Research skills

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.