It used to be privacy was largely the domain of constitutional law and patient health care law: the Fourth Amendment, and then the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Today, privacy is the practice of navigating the state-by-state patchwork of data security laws and regulations, subject matter specific privacy laws, and a number of federal rules stuck in there for good measure. Dealing with health-related information? Look to HIPAA. Biometric information? Illinois has a law for that. Financial information? Look to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). Antitrust, of course, has lumbered along for over one-and-a-quarter centuries based largely on two federal statutes. At first blush, antitrust and privacy would seemingly have little to do with one another, each content to operate in their respective spheres.

Reproduced with permission. Originally published February 2022, "The Privacy and Antitrust Paradox in the Age of Data," Cybersecurity Law Report.