Abstract
The right to the protection of personal data has taken on a whole new meaning in the technological rebirth of the New Age movement. We are no longer a name and a number; we are an amalgamation of the many digital personalities we both wittingly and unintentionally create online. This ability to “create information about data that were never apparent or intended in the source information” is, nonetheless, yin and yang. What’s more, such repurposing undermines the right to informational self-determination, by virtue of which individuals should be able to consent to how and if their personal data should be processed, especially when combined. It remains that the rights to privacy and to the protection of personal data are not absolute. Mass collection and treatment of multiple-source data sets are undeniably indispensable in certain contexts: this is especially true as regards government surveillance in the fight against terrorism and organized crime. The question is, therefore, in what circumstances and to what extent may boundaries be imposed on these state authorities? This article explores the rise in so-called “big data applications,” and how the two most instrumental courts in Europe as regards human rights and freedoms are shaping the future of data protection in Europe, albeit their paths are starting to diverge.
Keywords: Data protection, ECHR, CJEU, targeted processing, big data, communications data, personal data, terrorism, safeguards, automated processing
