Data Protection for Individuals

What is your personal data?

Every day, you share personal data about yourself. This could happen when you shop online, visit a doctor, apply for a job, or use social media platforms. But what exactly is personal data? Simply put, it is any information that relates to you and can be used to identify you, either directly or indirectly.

Your personal data can include some obvious identifiers, such as your name, surname, identity card number, or a photograph of yourself. Other information may be less apparent. For example, your location data or IP address can also reveal your identity. Even if a single piece of information does not immediately identify you, it can still be considered your personal data if it can reasonably be linked to you.

When assessing whether you are identifiable, all reasonable means of identifying you should be considered. This includes the possibility of singling you out from a group, either by the organization holding your data or by another party with access to additional information.

Your personal data belongs to you. Data protection laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), are designed to protect your fundamental right to the protection of personal data and to ensure that your information is handled lawfully, fairly, and transparently.

What is processing of personal data?

Processing is any action that a controller takes with your personal data, whether it is a single piece of information or a whole set, and whether it is done manually or automatically. This can include collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction of personal data. In short, whenever a controller handles your personal data in any way, it counts as processing.