Evolution of Privacy and Data Protection
This course explains basic notions of data analytics and the EU
legislation about privacy and data protection, plus some
implications that they have on future jobs such as data
analysts, programmers, managers, or legal advisors of software
analytics companies.
Privacy and Personal Data Protection are fundamental rights in
the EU; both rights revolve a lot around (personal) data,
however, data analytics needs (personal) data too, so what
happens if there is a tension? This course aims to broaden the
perspective on data protection and help to understand
important legal and technical aspects concerning data analytics
and privacy.
Privacy vs Data Protection
Are they the same thing?
NO – not in Europe, anyway. Sources from the US discuss
privacy and data protection as synonyms, however, in Europe,
they are not the same thing. The difference:
Privacy:
o Fundamental right (Article 8 ECHR, Article 7 EU Charter)
o Not an absolute right (balanced with other rights)
o The object of protection is private life, family life and
correspondence
o Protected from any infringement from the state and,
indirectly, other private parties
o There are exceptions, sometimes infringement is allowed
under certain circumstances
o Privacy does include personal data, in a sense, but it is
important to remember that they do not mean the same
thing
Personal Data Protection:
Fundamental right (Article 8 EU Charter)
Not an absolute right (balanced with other rights)
The object of protection is personal data
Protected from unlawful processing from the state and,
indirectly, other private parties
There are exceptions, certain requirements make data
processing lawful and permitted
, In the US, it is often referred to as informational privacy or
data privacy
The relationship between the two has been reconstructed in
several ways. One way is to present it as a venn diagram.
Another is to view privacy as encompassing personal data,
rather than to see the two as overlapping. For other experts,
data protection encompasses privacy. Koops et al have
presented a scale with different dimensions (the Typology of
Privacy):
Informational privacy refers to the personal data aspect and is
a dimension that touches upon all of the others. All the other
dimensions produce information about yourself, so personal
data privacy can cover the privacy of all the other dimensions.
This is seen to be a complete model of explanation.
Why are privacy and data protection so closely linked?
Historically, the protection of ‘private and family life and
correspondence’ came centuries before data protection. With
the digitisation of most of our daily activities and economic
sectors, information became more and more important. At the
same time, digital (new) technologies created new ways in
which individual fundamental rights could be harmed or made
existing harms worse. This is why data protection emerged as a
separate right in the EU.
Timeline
This course explains basic notions of data analytics and the EU
legislation about privacy and data protection, plus some
implications that they have on future jobs such as data
analysts, programmers, managers, or legal advisors of software
analytics companies.
Privacy and Personal Data Protection are fundamental rights in
the EU; both rights revolve a lot around (personal) data,
however, data analytics needs (personal) data too, so what
happens if there is a tension? This course aims to broaden the
perspective on data protection and help to understand
important legal and technical aspects concerning data analytics
and privacy.
Privacy vs Data Protection
Are they the same thing?
NO – not in Europe, anyway. Sources from the US discuss
privacy and data protection as synonyms, however, in Europe,
they are not the same thing. The difference:
Privacy:
o Fundamental right (Article 8 ECHR, Article 7 EU Charter)
o Not an absolute right (balanced with other rights)
o The object of protection is private life, family life and
correspondence
o Protected from any infringement from the state and,
indirectly, other private parties
o There are exceptions, sometimes infringement is allowed
under certain circumstances
o Privacy does include personal data, in a sense, but it is
important to remember that they do not mean the same
thing
Personal Data Protection:
Fundamental right (Article 8 EU Charter)
Not an absolute right (balanced with other rights)
The object of protection is personal data
Protected from unlawful processing from the state and,
indirectly, other private parties
There are exceptions, certain requirements make data
processing lawful and permitted
, In the US, it is often referred to as informational privacy or
data privacy
The relationship between the two has been reconstructed in
several ways. One way is to present it as a venn diagram.
Another is to view privacy as encompassing personal data,
rather than to see the two as overlapping. For other experts,
data protection encompasses privacy. Koops et al have
presented a scale with different dimensions (the Typology of
Privacy):
Informational privacy refers to the personal data aspect and is
a dimension that touches upon all of the others. All the other
dimensions produce information about yourself, so personal
data privacy can cover the privacy of all the other dimensions.
This is seen to be a complete model of explanation.
Why are privacy and data protection so closely linked?
Historically, the protection of ‘private and family life and
correspondence’ came centuries before data protection. With
the digitisation of most of our daily activities and economic
sectors, information became more and more important. At the
same time, digital (new) technologies created new ways in
which individual fundamental rights could be harmed or made
existing harms worse. This is why data protection emerged as a
separate right in the EU.
Timeline
