Protecting our personal information and data has always been a concern, however, the digital age has made data privacy more important than ever. Whether we’re shopping online or posting on our socials we share personal details, some more sensitive than others. But how is our data stored and used? Who has access to our personal information? We look at the importance of data privacy, why privacy matters and the privacy laws protecting personal information.
Written by Grant Longstaff. Published 11 October 2024.
What is data privacy law?
Personal data refers to information such as your name, date of birth, address, bank details and health records among others, and data privacy law refers to the legal rules and regulations intended to protect it. It also covers how the information is collected, stored and used by the government, businesses and other organisations, and aims to prevent unauthorised use and abuse of your information.
With a growing need for data protection in the digital age, the UK introduced several laws and regulations aimed at safeguarding personal data. The most significant of these is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which was implemented in the UK under the Data Protection Act 2018.
Why data privacy matters
Data privacy ensures we can maintain control of our personal information and there are a number of reasons why data privacy matters. It can help prevent us from becoming victims of cybercrime by ensuring our data isn’t misused or exploited. It can also defend our individual freedoms and protect us from experiencing discrimination.
Data privacy law also goes some way to make us feel more at ease about how our sensitive information is handled by the businesses and services we use every day, and may prevent organisations manipulating what we experience and encounter on the internet.
A history of data privacy laws and changes
GDPR was introduced by the EU in 2018, becoming an important part of human rights law. The regulation intended to strengthen online privacy rights and replace the outdated Data Protection Directive of 1995 which was created in the early stages of the internet.
GDPR legislation stated personal data should be “processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner” and only “collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes”. It also lays out how our information should be handled, accessed and shared by organisations across the EU.
Following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in 2020, the government incorporated the existing GDPR laws and regulations into the Data Protection Act 2018.
Key data privacy laws and regulations worldwide
The EU’s introduction of GDPR paved the way for data privacy legislation and GDPR compliance to be adopted around the world. Whilst there may be some differences in the legislation set out by the EU, GDPR has been used as a blueprint for other countries and regions including, Turkey, Brazil, Switzerland and China.
Privacy legislation has also been adopted in parts of the USA. California became the first state to introduce rules to ensure better personal data protection by creating the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Both Virginia and Colorado followed suit, introducing their own data security regulations. If more states adopt such policies it becomes increasingly likely that the US Government could look to introduce a federal law around data security.
The role of GDPR in shaping global privacy standards
There are multiple factors driving the change, however one of the largest is international trade and business, with companies operating across borders adopting suitable GDPR principles and governments making necessary adjustments to secure trade deals. Even in countries where data privacy laws are currently less stringent, multinational corporations are choosing to apply GDPR to simplify operations and avoid noncompliance with personal data protection laws.
GDPR is also changing how we view our personal information. Increasingly, data privacy is seen as a fundamental right, therefore protection around such information is steadily growing. There is also a greater demand to know what our information is used for, which increases the transparency of organisations and improves their accountability when our data is abused or mishandled.
The future of data privacy laws: What to expect
Digital age privacy is becoming increasingly important. With the ever evolving digital sector comes the likelihood we’ll see an increase in the amount of data and information we share. As such, privacy laws will also need to evolve to ensure our constant protection. Ultimately, with more and more countries likely to adopt data privacy law – drawing on GDPR as a foundation – we should see enhanced security of our personal information and a better understanding of what our data is being used for.
If data privacy and online privacy law interests you, then our LLM in Data Protection and Intellectual Property could be the course for you.
