argomento: News del mese - Diritto Internazionale e Comunitario

Articoli Correlati: GDPR - Freedom of expression - public interest

On March 21, 2022 Latvian national data supervisory institution Data State Inspectorate (DVI) published an article on behavior and attitude of individuals towards ongoing Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and capturing evidences on respective persons expressing support for Russia’s invasion in Ukraine (using the symbol “Z”, car stickers and posters or speeches). It is known that General Data Protection Regulation allows processing of personal data for the purpose of publishing information of public interest, however, in this regard the proportionality between the individual’s privacy and the public’s right to follow important events shall be balanced beforehand. As indicated by the DVI, in order to assess the proportionality between the right to freedom of expression (including freedom of speech) and the right to the protection of personal data, the information must be assessed before publication. For publishing about important events for the society, it is necessary to carefully assess the purpose of the publication and the impact of the publication on the person included therein. As provided by the DVI, personal data (especially in cases where the impact on a person is expected to be rather negative) may only be published when the purpose of the publication cannot be achieved without mentioning and identifying the individual. Therefore, there still is a certain boundary between the right to freedom of expression and the right to the protection of person’s privacy. And, if this line is crossed, illegal processing of personal data more likely, than not will take place. To avoid potential violations of GDPR provisions, it is utmost importance to thoroughly assess what information, including personal data, may be posted on individuals even though their actions allegedly are illegal.