Glossary terms Flashcards
Accountability
The implementation of appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure and be able to demonstrate that the handling of personal data is performed in accordance with relevant law, an idea codified in the EU General Data Protection Regulation and other frameworks, including APEC’s Cross Border Privacy Rules. Traditionally, accountability has been a fair information practices principle, that due diligence and reasonable steps will be undertaken to ensure that personal information will be protected and handled consistently with relevant law and other fair use principles.
Accuracy
Organizations must take every reasonable step to ensure the data processed is accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date. Reasonable measures should be understood as implementing processes to prevent inaccuracies during the data collection process as well as during the ongoing data processing in relation to the specific use for which the data is processed. The organization must consider the type of data and the specific purposes to maintain the accuracy of personal data in relation to the purpose. Accuracy also embodies the responsibility to respond to data subject requests to correct records that contain incomplete information or misinformation.
Adequate level of protection
A transfer of personal data from the European Union to a third country or an international organisation may take place where the European Commission has decided that the third country, a territory or one or more specified sectors within that third country, or the international organisation in question, ensures an adequate level of protection by taking into account the following elements: (a) the rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, both general and sectoral legislation, data protection rules, professional rules and security measures, effective and enforceable data subject rights and effective administrative and judicial redress for the data subjects whose personal data is being transferred; (b) the existence and effective functioning of independent supervisory authorities with responsibility for ensuring and enforcing compliance with the data protection rules; (c) the international commitments the third country or international organisation concerned has entered into in relation to the protection of personal data.
Annual Reports
The requirement under the General Data Protection Regulation that the European Data Protection Board and each supervisory authority periodically report on their activities. The supervisory authority report should include infringements and the activities that the authority conducted under their Article 58(2) powers. The EDPB report should include guidelines, recommendations, best practices and binding decisions. Additionally, the report should include the protection of natural persons with regard to processing in the EU and, where relevant, in third countries and international organisations. The report shall be made public and be transmitted to the European Parliament, to the Council and to the Commission.
Anonymous Information
In contrast to personal data, anonymous information or data is not related to an identified or an identifiable natural person and cannot be combined with other information to re-identify individuals. It has been rendered unidentifiable and, as such, is not protected by the GDPR.
Anti-discrimination laws
Anti-discrimination laws are indications of special classes of personal data. If there exists law protecting against discrimination based on a class or status, it is likely personal information relating to that class or status is subject to more stringent data protection regulation, under the GDPR or otherwise.
Appropriate safeguards
The General Data Protection Regulation refers to appropriate safeguards in a number of contexts, including the transfer of personal data to third countries outside the European Union, the processing of special categories of data, and the processing of personal data in a law enforcement context. This generally refers to the application of the general data protection principles, in particular purpose limitation, data minimisation, limited storage periods, data quality, data protection by design and by default, legal basis for processing, processing of special categories of personal data, measures to ensure data security, and the requirements in respect of onward transfers to bodies not bound by the binding corporate rules. This may also refer to the use of encryption or pseudonymization, standard data protection clauses adopted by the Commission, contractual clauses authorized by a supervisory authority, or certification schemes or codes of conduct authorized by the Commission or a supervisory authority. Those safeguards should ensure compliance with data protection requirements and the rights of the data subjects appropriate to processing within the European Union.
Appropriate Technical and Organizational Measures
The General Data Protection Regulation requires a risk-based approach to data protection, whereby organizations take into account the nature, scope, context and purposes of processing, as well as the risks of varying likelihood and severity to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, and institute policies, controls and certain technologies to mitigate those risks. These “appropriate technical and organisational measures” might help meet the obligation to keep personal data secure, including technical safeguards against accidents and negligence or deliberate and malevolent actions, or involve the implementation of data protection policies. These measures should be demonstrable on demand to data protection authorities and reviewed regularly.
Article 29 Working Party
The Article 29 Working Party (WP29) was a European Union organization that functioned as an independent advisory body on data protection and privacy and consisted of the collected data protection authorities of the member states. It was replaced by the similarly constituted European Data Protection Board (EDPB) on May 25, 2018, when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect.
Authentication
The process by which an entity (such as a person or computer system) determines whether another entity is who it claims to be.
Automated Processing
A processing operation that is performed without any human intervention. “Profiling” is defined in the General Data Protection Regulation, for example, as the automated processing of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that natural person’s performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements. Data subjects, under the GDPR, have a right to object to such processing.
Availability
Data is “available” if it is accessible when needed by the organization or data subject. The General Data Protection Regulation requires that a business be able to ensure the availability of personal data and have the ability to restore the availability and access to personal data in a timely manner in the event of a physical or technical incident.
Background Screening/Checks
Organizations may want to verify an applicant’s ability to function in the working environment as well as assuring the safety and security of existing workers. Background checks range from checking a person’s educational background to checking on past criminal activity. Employee consent requirements for such check vary by member state and may be negotiated with local works councils.
Behavioral Advertising
Advertising that is targeted at individuals based on the observation of their behaviour over time. Most often done via automated processing of personal data, or profiling, the General Data Protection Regulation requires that data subjects be able to opt-out of any automated processing, to be informed of the logic involved in any automatic personal data processing and, at least when based on profiling, be informed of the consequences of such processing. If cookies are used to store or access information for the purposes of behavioral advertising, the ePrivacy Directive requires that data subjects provide consent for the placement of such cookies, after having been provided with clear and comprehensive information.
Binding Corporate Rules
Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs) are an appropriate safeguard allowed by the General Data Protection Regulation to facilitate cross-border transfers of personal data between the various entities of a corporate group worldwide. They do so by ensuring that the same high level of protection of personal data is complied with by all members of the organizational group by means of a single set of binding and enforceable rules. BCRs compel organizations to be able to demonstrate their compliance with all aspects of applicable data protection legislation and are approved by a member state data protection authority. To date, relatively few organizations have had BCRs approved.
Binding Safe Processor Rules
Previously, the EU distinguished between Binding Corporate Rules for controllers and Binding Safe Processor Rules for processors. With the General Data Protection Regulation, there is now no distinction made between the two in this context and Binding Corporate Rules are appropriate for both.
Biometrics
Data concerning the intrinsic physical or behavioral characteristics of an individual. Examples include DNA, fingerprints, retina and iris patterns, voice, face, handwriting, keystroke technique and gait. The General Data Protection Regulation, in Article 9, lists biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person as a special category of data for which processing is not allowed other than in specific circumstances.
Bodily Privacy
One of the four classes of privacy, along with information privacy, territorial privacy and communications privacy. It focuses on a person’s physical being and any invasion thereof. Such an invasion can take the form of genetic testing, drug testing or body cavity searches.
Breach Disclosure (EU specific)
The requirement that a data controller notify regulators, potentially within 72 hours of discovery, and/or victims, of incidents affecting the confidentiality and security of personal data, depending on the assessed risks to the rights and freedoms of affected data subjects (see Data Breach).
Bundesdatenschutzgesetz-neu
Germany’s federal data protection act, implementing the General Data Protection Regulation. With the passage of the GDPR, it replaced a previous law with the same name (hence “neu” in common parlance) and enhanced a series of other acts mainly in areas of law enforcement and intelligence services. Furthermore, the new version suggests a procedure for national data protection authorities to challenge adequacy decisions of the EU Commission.
CCTV
Originally an acronym for “closed circuit television,” CCTV has come to be shorthand for any video surveillance system. Originally, such systems relied on coaxial cable and was truly only accessible on premise. Today, most surveillance systems are hosted via TCP/IP networks and can be accessed remotely, and the footage much more easily shared, eliciting new and different privacy concerns.
Certification Mechanisms
Introduced by the General Data Protection Regulation, certification mechanisms are a new valid adequacy mechanism for the transfer of personal data outside of the European Union in the absence of an adequacy decision and instead of other mechanisms such as binding corporate rules or contractual clauses. Certification mechanisms must be developed by certifying bodies, approved by data protection authorities or the European Data Protection Board, and have a methodology for auditing compliance. Similar to binding corporate rules, they compel organizations to be able to demonstrate their compliance with all aspects of applicable data protection legislation.
Charter of Fundamental Rights
A treaty that consolidates human rights within the EU. The treaty states that everyone has a right to protect their personal data, that data must be processed for legitimate and specified purposes and that compliance is subject to control by an authority.
Choice
In the context of consent, choice refers to the idea that consent must be freely given and that data subjects must have a genuine choice as to whether to provide personal data or not. If there is no true choice it is unlikely the consent will be deemed valid under the General Data Protection Regulation.