Human rights and data protection
The right to privacy in the digital age:
Article 8 protects your right to respect for your private life, your family life, your home and
your correspondence (letters, telephone calls and emails, for example).
■ CFREU Article 7
■ Respect for private and family life
Everyone has the right to respect for his or her private and family life, home and
communications.
■ Article 8
■ Protection of personal data
1. Everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her.
2. Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes and on the basis of the consent
of the person concerned or some other legitimate basis laid down by law. Everyone has the
right of access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to
have it rectified.
3. Compliance with these rules shall be subject to control by an independent authority
The courts have interpreted the concept of ‘private life’ very broadly. It covers things like
your right to determine your sexual orientation, your lifestyle, and the way you look and
dress. It also includes your right to control who sees and touches your body. For example,
this means that public authorities cannot do things like leave you undressed in a busy ward
or take a blood sample without your permission1.
Timeline Right to Privacy
■ 1975 OECD meeting on ‘transborder data flow’
■ 1970s: enactment of national privacy and data protection laws in a number of
European States
■ 1973 UN Secretary-General submitted in a report on ‘The Uses of Electronics Which
May Affect the Rights of the Person and the Limits Which Should be Placed on Such
Uses in a Democratic Society’
■ 1980 OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of
Personal Data (‘OECD Guidelines’)
■ 1990s Global satellite-based networks and internet increased the flow of
information, including personal information
■ 1995: EU Directive to harmonize rules in the EU MS
■ 2013: Edward Snowden leaks information on global surveillance programmes
■ 2015: UN Human Rights Council appoints a Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy
• 2016: UN General Assembly Resolution 68/167 (2013) on “Right to privacy in the
digital age”:
• “Stressing the importance of the full respect for the freedom to seek, receive
and impart information, including the fundamental importance of access to
information and democratic participation …”
1
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/human-rights-act/article-8-respect-your-private-and-family-life
The right to privacy in the digital age:
Article 8 protects your right to respect for your private life, your family life, your home and
your correspondence (letters, telephone calls and emails, for example).
■ CFREU Article 7
■ Respect for private and family life
Everyone has the right to respect for his or her private and family life, home and
communications.
■ Article 8
■ Protection of personal data
1. Everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her.
2. Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes and on the basis of the consent
of the person concerned or some other legitimate basis laid down by law. Everyone has the
right of access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to
have it rectified.
3. Compliance with these rules shall be subject to control by an independent authority
The courts have interpreted the concept of ‘private life’ very broadly. It covers things like
your right to determine your sexual orientation, your lifestyle, and the way you look and
dress. It also includes your right to control who sees and touches your body. For example,
this means that public authorities cannot do things like leave you undressed in a busy ward
or take a blood sample without your permission1.
Timeline Right to Privacy
■ 1975 OECD meeting on ‘transborder data flow’
■ 1970s: enactment of national privacy and data protection laws in a number of
European States
■ 1973 UN Secretary-General submitted in a report on ‘The Uses of Electronics Which
May Affect the Rights of the Person and the Limits Which Should be Placed on Such
Uses in a Democratic Society’
■ 1980 OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of
Personal Data (‘OECD Guidelines’)
■ 1990s Global satellite-based networks and internet increased the flow of
information, including personal information
■ 1995: EU Directive to harmonize rules in the EU MS
■ 2013: Edward Snowden leaks information on global surveillance programmes
■ 2015: UN Human Rights Council appoints a Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy
• 2016: UN General Assembly Resolution 68/167 (2013) on “Right to privacy in the
digital age”:
• “Stressing the importance of the full respect for the freedom to seek, receive
and impart information, including the fundamental importance of access to
information and democratic participation …”
1
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/human-rights-act/article-8-respect-your-private-and-family-life
