Digital Legal Lab

PROTECTING DIGITAL DATA & PRIVACY

In the digital society, fundamental rights such as privacy need protection from infringement. 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an important instrument to counter privacy infringements. But it also has limits. 

In particular, there appears to be a growing gap between the legislative approach and the everyday privacy experience of data subjects. We see two clear problems emerging: firstly, data subjects do not experience control over their data. Their privacy expectations are predominantly based on the trust they have in the apps and devices they use. Secondly, data subjects are increasingly confronted with unwanted information about themselves, illustrating the ineffectiveness of the current legal regime to achieve one of its major goals: the protection of digital identities. 

Our research examines to what extent, and in what ways, privacy should be re-evaluated to adequately protect trust and identity in the context of digital and data-driven technologies.

Another question we are exploring is how personal data can be understood as an economic good. Because data holds value in the digital world, we should consider data relationships through the lens of data markets and data economy.