Data Privacy Law

Information privacy, data privacy or data protection laws provide a legal framework on how to obtain, use and store data of natural persons. The various laws around the world describe the rights of natural persons to control who is using its data. This includes usually the right to get details on which data is stored, for what purpose and to request the deletion in case the purpose is not given anymore.

Over 80 countries and independent territories, including nearly every country in Europe and many in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa, have now adopted comprehensive data protection laws. The European Union has the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in force since May 25, 2018. The United States is notable for not having adopted a comprehensive information privacy law, but rather having adopted limited sectoral laws in some areas like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

These laws are based on fair information practice guidelines developed by the U.S. Department for Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) (later renamed Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)), by a Special Advisory Committee on Automated Personal Data Systems, under the chairmanship of computer pioneer and privacy pioneer Willis H. Ware. The report submitted by the Chair to the HHS Secretary titled "Records, Computers and Rights of Citizens (07/01/1973)", proposes universal principles for the privacy and protection of consumer and citizen data:

* For all data collected, there should be a stated purpose.
* Information collected from an individual cannot be disclosed to other organizations or individuals unless specifically authorized by law or by consent of the individual.
* Records kept on an individual should be accurate and up to date.
* There should be mechanisms for individuals to review data about them, to ensure accuracy. This may include periodic reporting.
* Data should be deleted when it is no longer needed for the stated purpose.
* Transmission of personal information to locations where "equivalent" personal data protection cannot be assured is prohibited.
* Some data is too sensitive to be collected, unless there are extreme circumstances (e.g., sexual orientation, religion).

By Jurisdiction

The German state of Hessia enacted the World's first data privacy law on 30SEP1970. In Germany the term informational self-determination was first used in the context of a German constitutional ruling relating to personal information collected during the 1983 census.

Asia

China

China passed its Personal Information Protection Law in mid-2021, to go into effect November 1, 2021. Based loosely on the EU's GDPR, it focuses heavily on consent, rights of the individual, and transparency of data processing.

Philippines

In the Philippines, The Data Privacy Act of 2012 mandated the creation of the National Privacy Commission that would monitor and maintain policies that involve information privacy and personal data protection in the country. Modeled after the EU Data Protection Directive and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Privacy Framework, the independent body would ensure compliance of the country with international standards set for data protection. The law requires government and private organizations composed of at least 250 employees or those which have access to the personal and identifiable information of at least 1000 people to appoint a Data Protection Officer that would assist in regulating the management of personal information in such entities.

In summary, the law identifies important points regarding the handling of personal information as follows:
# Personal information must be collected for reasons that are specified, legitimate, and reasonable.
# Personal information must be handled properly. Information must be kept accurate and relevant, used only for the stated purposes, and retained only for as long as reasonably needed. The law required entities to be active in ensuring that unauthorized parties do not have access to their customers’ information.
# Personal information must be disposed in way that unauthorized third parties could not access the discarded data.

Europe

The right to data privacy is relatively heavily regulated and actively enforced in Europe. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) provides a right to respect for one's ''"private and family life, his home and his correspondence"'', subject to certain restrictions. The European Court of Human Rights has given this article a very broad interpretation in its jurisprudence. According to the Court's case law the collection of information by officials of the state about an individual without their consent always falls within the scope of Article 8. Thus, gathering information for the official census, recording fingerprints and photographs in a police register, collecting medical data or details of personal expenditures, and implementing a system of personal identification has been judged to raise data privacy issues. What also falls under "privacy-sensitive data" under the GDPR is such information as racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs and information regarding a person's sex life or sexual orientation.

Any state interference with a person's privacy is only acceptable for the Court if three conditions are fulfilled:

# The interference is in accordance with the law
# The interference pursues a legitimate goal
# The interference is necessary in a democratic society

The government is not the only entity which may pose a threat to data privacy. Other citizens, and private companies most importantly, may also engage in threatening activities, especially since the automated processing of data became widespread. The Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data was concluded within the Council of Europe in 1981. This convention obliges the signatories to enact legislation concerning the automatic processing of personal data, which many duly did.

As all the member states of the European Union are also signatories of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, the European Commission was concerned that diverging data protection legislation would emerge and impede the free flow of data within the EU zone. Therefore, the European Commission decided to propose harmonizing data protection law within the EU. The resulting Data Protection Directive was adopted by the European Parliament and ministers from national governments in 1995 and had to be transposed into national law by the end of 1998.

The directive contains a number of key principles with which member states must comply. Anyone processing personal data must comply with the eight enforceable principles of good practice. They state that the data must be:

# Fairly and lawfully processed.
# Processed for limited purposes.
# Adequate, relevant and not excessive.
# Accurate.
# Kept no longer than necessary.
# Processed in accordance with the data subject's rights.
# Secure.
# Transferred only to countries with adequate protection.

Personal data covers both facts and opinions about the individual. It also includes information regarding the intentions of the data con