The first work to examine data privacy laws across Asia, covering all 26 countries and separate jurisdictions, and with in-depth analysis of the 14 which have specialised data privacy laws. Professor Greenleaf demonstrates the increasing world-wide significance of data privacy and the international context of the development of national data privacy laws as well as assessing the laws, their powers and their enforcement against international standards. The book also contains a web link to an update to mid-2017.

This book provides a comparison and practical guide for academics, students, and the business community of the current data protection laws in selected Asia Pacific countries (Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand) and the European Union. The book shows how over the past three decades the range of economic, political, and social activities that have moved to the internet has increased significantly. This technological transformation has resulted in the collection of personal data, its use and storage across international boundaries at a rate that governments have been unable to keep pace. The book highlights challenges and potential solutions related to data protection issues arising from cross-border problems in which personal data is being considered as intellectual property, within transnational contracts and in anti-trust law. The book also discusses the emerging challenges in protecting personal data and promoting cyber security. The book provides a deeper understanding of the legal risks and frameworks associated with data protection law for local, regional and global academics, students, businesses, industries, legal profession and individuals.

Covering 16 Asian jurisdictions – representing differing stages in the development of data protection regulatory systems – this book offers an in-depth, cross-jurisdictional commentary on the developing world of Asian privacy and personal data protection, with a special focus on private international law issues. It brings together an international team of contributors who reflect on the framework of data privacy and protection laws in their respective regions. Topics discussed range from the extent to which such laws may have extraterritorial effect or may conflict with the laws of other states, to shortcomings of existing systems and their potential for improvement. More than a valuable contribution to comparative private conflict of laws literature from an Asian perspective, the book also considers possible future trajectories for existing laws. It covers the extent to which Asian regimes will inevitably need to integrate with ever-evolving privacy and personal data protection initiatives in the EU, the USA, and China. It also assesses the extent to which existing regimes are sufficiently robust to handle the challenges of future technical developments in data collection and data transfer across borders, especially in relation to the activities of giant corporations such as Meta (Facebook), Google, Amazon, Alibaba, and Tencent. The result is a wide-ranging and forward-thinking resource, which provides practitioners and researchers with an account of data privacy law and personal data protection laws in Asia and their cross-border implications – as those regulations are now and as they might be in the future.

The first work to examine data privacy laws across Asia, covering all 26 countries and separate jurisdictions, and with in-depth analysis of the 14 which have specialised data privacy laws. Professor Greenleaf demonstrates the increasing world-wide significance of data privacy and the international context of the development of national data privacy laws as well as assessing the laws, their powers and their enforcement against international standards.