미국의 프라이버시와 개인정보보호 - 개인정보보호에 대한 유럽연합과의 차이를 중심으로 -

The U.S. Administrative bodies including Federal Trade Commission have been striking a balance between the socially beneficial uses of big data and the harms to privacy than can result from the analysis of the big data. The Korean government and other countries’ ones have been concentrated their efforts in order to achieve the balance between them. But there’s some distinctions about the concept and the notion of ‘Privacy’ among the countries. Particularly, the meanings of the ‘Privacy’ in the U.S. have long history and they are various compared to other countries such as Europe and Korea. Thus, this article deals with the concepts and definitions of the ‘Privacy’ in the United States. In order to provide the understanding of this, it first illustrates the Constitutional context under the U.S. laws and it also analyzes the courts decisions of the U.S.. Then it introduces the frameworks and regulating bodies to protect privacy. Specifically, it provides a fundamental principle and the laws to protect privacy in the U.S. and Europe. By recognizing these, it finally suggests the characteristics and the differences between the U.S. and the European countries regarding the privacy laws and policies.