Personal Data and Privacy

Personal data is any information that can identify a living individual, such as a name, photograph, email address or location. Data protection means keeping personal data safe and using it responsibly. Data protection law covers personal data only, not data that cannot identify anyone.

Ethical and legal issues

An ethical issue is about what is considered right or wrong. A legal issue is about what the law requires or forbids. They are not the same: something can be legal but still be unethical.

Privacy and ownership

Privacy is your ability to control who can access information about you. Collecting and using personal data can reduce privacy, especially when your online activity or communications are tracked. A free drawing app that logs your pictures, time spent and location can build a detailed profile of your habits, and you have less control over who sees it and what they do with it.

It can be unclear who owns personal data. You might feel data about you belongs to you, but the organisation storing it may also claim rights over it. Data protection law gives individuals rights over data about themselves and requires organisations to obtain clear consent, rather than assuming it because you did not object. Privacy is not security: privacy is control over information, while security protects data from unauthorised access.

Where personal data comes from

Organisations gather personal data from many sources: a loyalty card at a till, a fitness band sending heart-rate readings to its app, a number-plate camera at a car park, a school library's lending records, and a shop search box. Websites store small files called cookies in your browser, and data can be passed between organisations. Each new source adds to the picture an organisation can build, so the more that is collected, the less privacy the person has.