Regulatory conundrum: Whose data is it anyway?

A crisis of trust seems to be brewing over the way data is collected, stored and used. Inadequate and unclear laws, conflicts of interest among stakeholders, and a general lack of understanding about the various aspects of the digital economy are having a debilitating effect on how technology, media and consumers interact.

There are many ongoing debates about regulating the collection and use of data. The debates often centre on the right to own one’s data, and whether laws must expressly provide for it.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into effect last year, regulates the collection and use of personal data of “data subjects” in the EU. However, the GDPR does not expressly provide for the right to own data, but recognizes various other individual rights such as the right to be informed, the right to rectify, the right to restrict processing, the right of erasure, the right to object to processing, and the right to data portability.

Karan Singh Chandhiok is a partner and Lagna Panda is a senior associate at Chandhiok & Mahajan.