New thematic factsheet on Personal Data Protection
The protection of personal data is of fundamental importance to a person’s enjoyment of their right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence, as guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The European Court of Human Rights has noted in its case law that technological developments with regard to the “automatic processing” of data had led, over the last decades, to enormous challenges for personal data protection, in particular with regard to modern operational possibilities of surveillance, interception of communications and/or data retention.
The present factsheet provides examples of general and individual measures reported by States in the context of the execution of the European Court’s judgments concerning various aspects of the protection of personal data: collection and use of personal data, search and seizure of personal data, including correspondence, monitoring of correspondence in prison, health-related personal data, access to, erasure and destruction of personal data, interception of communications and personal data, surveillance in the workplace and mass surveillance.