An Oral History Interview with Daniel J. Solove

Abstract

This oral history interview is sponsored by NSF 2202484, “Mining a Usable Past: Perspectives, Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy,” at the Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. The interview is with Daniel J. Solove, Eugene L. and Barbara Bernard Professor of Intellectual Property and Technology Law at the George Washington University Law School. Solove reflects on his early life in Pennsylvania, his education at Washington University in St. Louis and Yale Law School, and his career trajectory from judicial clerkship to legal academia. He discusses the origins and evolution of his scholarship on privacy, including his taxonomy of privacy harms, his work on data protection, and his interest in bridging legal theory and practical policy. The interview covers his role in shaping privacy law as a discipline, his efforts to influence public and institutional understanding through writing, teaching, and consulting, and his perspectives on regulatory frameworks in the U.S. and Europe. He concludes with reflections on academic impact, interdisciplinary engagement, and the future of privacy scholarship.