Serge Gutwirth is a professor of human rights, legal theory, comparative law and legal research at the Faculty of Law and Criminology of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where he studied law, criminology and also obtained a post-graduate degree in technology and science studies. Until 2010 he also held a part-time position of lecturer at the Faculty of law of the Erasmus University Rotterdam where he taught philosophy of law. Since October 2003 Gutwirth is holder of a 10 year research fellowship in the framework of the VUB-Research contingent for his project ‘Sciences and the democratic constitutional state: a mutual transformation process’. Gutwirth founded and still chairs the VUB-Research group Law Science Technology & Society. He publishes widely in Dutch French and English and participates (inter)national and interdisciplinary research projects (FP6, FP7).. Gutwirth has been (co-)promoter of 8 publicly defended PhD’s and he has often been invited to be an external member of PhD-juries in other universities in Belgium and abroad. He is a member of several editorial boards of scientific journals. Currently, Serge Gutwirth is particularly interested both in technical legal issues raised by technology (particularly in the field of data protection and privacy) and in more generic issues related to the articulation of law, sciences, technologies and societies.
Articles
De wegen van de Commissie Adriaenssens waren ondoorgrondelijk (with Els Dumortier and Kevin Goris), Panopticon (2012)
This contribution (in Dutch) focuses on the rise and fall of the “Commission Adriaenssens”. This...
Liberté religieuse: vers un devoir de neutralité de l'Etat dans l'enseignement public ? (with Cécile Mathieu and Paul De Hert), Journal des Tribunaux-Droit Européen (JT-DE) (2010)
La convention européenne des droits de l'homme se limite-t-elle à interdire aux Etats d'endoctriner les...
Sorting out smart surveillance (with David Wright, Michael Friedewald, Marc Langheinrich, Emilio Mordini, Rocco Bellanova, Paul De Hert, Kush Whadwa, and Didier Bigo), Computer Law & Security Review (2010)
Surveillance is becoming ubiquitous in our society. We can also see the emergence of “smart”...
Variations sur le thème de la banalisation de la surveillance (with Rocco Bellanova and Paul De Hert), Mouvements - Dossier. Sous contrôle (2010)
Les études de la surveillance (Surveillance studies) sont-elles en mesure d’appréhender dans leur globalité des...
L’affaire Harry. Petite scientifiction (with Vinciane Despret), Terrain. Revue d’Ethnologie européenne: “Etre une personne” (2009)
Departing from a fictive situation the article envisions the possibility to confer the status of...
Books
Data protection in a profiled world (2010)
One of the most challenging issues facing our current information society is the accelerating accumulation...
Reinventing data protection ? (with Yves Poullet, Paul De Hert, Cecile de Terwangne, and Sjaak Nouwt) (2009)
This book is about data protection, privacy and liberty and the way these fundamental values...
Profiling the European Citizen (with Mireille Hildebrandt) (2008)
In the eyes of many, one of the most challenging problems of the information society...
Safeguards in a World of Ambient Intelligence (with David Wright, Michael Friedewald, Yves Punie, and Elena Vildjiounaite) (2008)
This book is a warning. It aims to warn policy-makers, industry, academia, civil society organisations,...
Privacy and the information age (2002)
In a time in which new technologies make it easy to gather and process data,...
Contributions to Books
Avant-propos: Les brevets dans 'l'économie de la connaissance' (with Isabelle Stengers), D. DE BEER, Brevet, santé publique et accès aux médicaments essentiels. Une fin du droit? (2011)
La dynamique scientifico-industrielle associée à la biotechnologie est devenu un nouveau modèle pour la recherche...
Precaution and privacy impact assessments as modes towards risk management (with David Wright, Raphael Gellert, and Michael Friedewald), Towards Responsible Research and Innovation in the Information and Communication Technologies and Security Technologies Fields (2011)
This paper - which is the 5th chapter of the book edited by René Von...
Privacy & data protection : verweven maar toch sterk verschillend (with Raphael Gellert), De Transparante Samenleving (2011)
Deze bijdrage gaat in op de juridische conceptualiseringen van respectievelijk privacy en data protection. Met...
Punir ou réparer? Une fausse alternative (with Paul De Hert), La peine dans tous ses états. Hommage à Michel van de Kerchove (2011)
Le mouvement de la restorative justice est en plein essor. Au delà d’une production impressionnante...
The German Constitutional Court Judgement on data retention: proportionality overrides unlimited surveillance (doesn't it ?) (with Katja de Vries, Rocco Bellanova, and Paul De Hert), Privacy and data protection : an element of choice (to be published) (2011)
On 15 March 2006, the Data Retention Directive, demanding the retention of telecommunications data for...
Popular Press
Activisten, geen terroristen (with Dirk Voorhoof), De Standaard (2011)
Wanneer in het Midden-Oosten of China mensen in opstand komen tegen de overheid, juichen we...
Leuvense Rector heeft meer dan één plant uitgetrokken. Ontslag Barbara Van Dyck smoort menigsuiting van anderen. (with Eva Brems, Dirk Voorhoof, and et al.), De Morgen (2011)
De acties rond het fameuze Wetterse aardappelveld en het ontslag van Barbara Van Dyck aan...
"Wetenschapslastering” als nieuw opiniedelict ?, De Wereld Morgen (www.dewereldmorgen.be) (2011)
Een dupliek op de opiniebijdrage van Johan Braeckman en Maarten Boudry in De Standaard van...
Actievoerders, aardappelen en academici (with Dirk Voorhoof), De Standaard (2011)
In Wetteren vernielden vorig weekend activisten van Field Liberation Movement (FLM) een gedeelte van een...
Boerkaverbod verdient grondig debat (with Cécile Mathieu and Paul De Hert), Juristenkrant (2010)
Bijna was België het eerste land ter wereld met een algemeen boerkaverbod. De evocatie van...
Unpublished Papers
Short statement about the role of consent in the European data protection directive (2012)
The fundamental principle of data protection is not the “consent principle”, but the purpose specification...
Huber, Marper and Others: Throwing new light on the shadows of suspicion (with Gloria Gonzalez-Fuster, Paul De Hert, and Erika Ellyne), CEPS Policy brief Nr 11 (2011)
The proliferation of large-scale databases containing personal information, and the multiple uses to which they...
Privacy and data protection in the EU-security continuum (with Gloria Gonzàlez-Fuster and Paul De Hert), IN:EX/CEPS Policy Briefs (N° 12) (2011)
There is no doubt that EU measures on the automated processing of data on individuals...
Profiling in the European Union: A high-risk practice (with Gloria Gonzalez-Fuster and Erika Ellyne), INEX Policy Brief No. 10, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) (2010)
Profiling through predictive data mining is already a reality worldwide, including in the European Union....
Data protection in the EU: Towards 'reflexive governance'? (with Gloria Gonzalez Fuster), REFGOV Working paper series: REFGOV-FR-19 (2008)
The present report is the result of the research conducted for the Fundamental Rights Sub-Network...
Presentations
Profiling the European Citizen (with Mireille Hildebrandt), presentation at CPDP2009 Data protection in a profiled world ? International Conference in Brussels organised by LSTS-VRije Universiteit Brussel, TILT-Tilburg University, INRIA-CNRS and CRID-FUNDP (2008)
Presentation of some of the conclusions of "Profiling the European Citizen (2008, Springer)
Reparler du droit avec La fabrique du droit. Rencontre avec Bruno Latour autour de Changer de société - Refaire de la sociologie (2008)
Texte présenté par Serge Gutwirth lors de la rencontre avec Bruno Latour le 26 janvier...