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How can tort law help protect privacy in the digital age? This central issue is examined from different perspectives throughout the thesis, with an emphasis on personal information (also called informational privacy). Privacy has long been a debated topic in the Swedish legal system, for several reasons. One is the confusion surrounding the concept. Because of the difficulties both scholars and legislators have encountered regarding the definition of privacy, it is often seen as an interest too vague to regulate. Further, freedom of expression, freedom of the press and access to public documents – three rights that are often presented as opposites to privacy – have traditionally been prioritised in the legislative process.

Apart from the binding ECHR and EU regulations, there are still no general clauses to protect privacy in Swedish law. Instead, this value has been approached in a cautious and even reluctant way, by establishing sanctions for certain privacy invasions. Consequently, the existing privacy protection is spread out over many different legal areas. In order to reconcile national principles with our European obligations, the author argues that it is necessary both to understand our “negative” Swedish approach and the “positive” ECHR and EU rights set out in Article 8 ECHR, Articles 7 and 8 of the EU Charter and the GDPR.

After examining these legal traditions – with some comparative glances at US developments regarding the right to privacy – the thesis explores an alternative approach using a theoretical model referred to as contextual integrity. This framework is adapted for privacy protection in the digital age and focuses more on appropriate information flows than definitions of privacy. The model is used for a reading of Swedish tort law cases on privacy invasions, specifically in order to relate the tort law principles to existing or evolving social norms in the situations in which damage claims originate. It is suggested that, by developing an understanding for the relationship between the legal and the social in this dynamic area, we can make the most of tort law as a tool for privacy protection in the future.