Kristina Irion on Human Rights Protection in New Book About Big Data and Trade Law

CMDS Fellow Kristina Irion authored a chapter for the volume Big Data and Global Trade Law, published this month by Cambridge University Press, edited by Mira Burri.

Relying on authors from different disciplines from economics to law and to political science, the volume explores the relevance of global trade law for data, big data and cross-border data flows.

In the chapter entitled Panta Rhei: A European Perspective on Ensuring a High Level of Protection of Human Rights in a World in Which Everything Flows, Irion critically examines the data flow metaphor as a policy concept inside international trade law. She explores how the respect for human rights ties in with national constitutionalism that becomes increasingly challenged by the transnational dynamic of digital era transactions.

The chapter turns to international trade law and why its ambitions to govern cross-border data flows will likely not advance efforts to generate respect for human rights. Irion advocates for a rebalancing act that recognizes human rights inside international trade law.