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Personal data: ethics and law
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Apps, shops and websites collect huge amounts of data about us. Who controls it, and what are they allowed to do with it?
Personal data
Personal data is information about a living person who can be identified from it: name, address, date of birth, photos, location, browsing habits.
It is valuable to organisations for targeted adverts and services, which is why it must be protected.
It is valuable to organisations for targeted adverts and services, which is why it must be protected.
The key issues
Privacy: people have a right to keep information about themselves private.
Consent: people should agree to their data being collected and know what it will be used for.
Ownership: who owns data once it has been collected?
Misuse: data may be sold, leaked, used for something different or used to commit identity fraud.
Consent: people should agree to their data being collected and know what it will be used for.
Ownership: who owns data once it has been collected?
Misuse: data may be sold, leaked, used for something different or used to commit identity fraud.
Data protection law
In the UK, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR control how personal data is used. Organisations must:
use data fairly, lawfully and transparently, only for the stated purpose;
collect only what they need and keep it accurate;
not keep it longer than necessary, and keep it secure.
People have rights, such as asking to see the data held about them.
use data fairly, lawfully and transparently, only for the stated purpose;
collect only what they need and keep it accurate;
not keep it longer than necessary, and keep it secure.
People have rights, such as asking to see the data held about them.
A fitness app shares users' location data with advertisers without telling them. Which issues does this raise?
- Users did not give consent for this use.
- Their privacy is broken and the data is being misused for another purpose.
Answer: Lack of consent, loss of privacy and misuse of data
Personal data identifies a living person. Key issues are privacy, consent, ownership and misuse. UK law (Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR) requires data to be used fairly, kept accurate, secure and only as long as needed.
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