This book offers a comparative perspective on data protection and cybersecurity in Europe. In light of the digital revolution and the implementation of social media applications and big data innovations, it analyzes threat perceptions regarding privacy and cyber security, and examines socio-political differences in the fundamental conceptions and narratives of privacy, and in data protection regimes, across various European countries. The first part of the book raises fundamental legal and ethical questions concerning data protection; the second analyses discourses on cybersecurity and data protection in various European countries; and the third part discusses EU regulations and norms intended to create harmonized data protection regimes.

Max-Otto Baumann is a political scientist. He studied political science, philosophy and physics at Heidelberg University where he also took his doctorate in the field of International Relations. He then worked for three years at the John Stuart Mill Institute in Heidelberg where his research focused on issues around privacy, democracy, and digital revolution. In 2015 he left the Mill Institute and is now a senior researcher with the German Development Institute in Bonn. Wolf Schünemann is a political scientist at Heidelberg University. He does research and teaching in the fields of International Relations, European Integration, and Internet Governance. After having studied political science, philosophy, German literature, and media, he worked as research fellow and lecturer at the University of Koblenz-Landau. He is the founder and speaker of the Netzpolitik AG (Internet Governance Working Group) at Heidelberg University. He serves as a spokesperson of the subgroup Politics and the Internet, established under the umbrella of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) in 2015.