Vulnerability and Data Protection Law

Abstract

Abstract Vulnerability is the hallmark of human beings in the twenty-first century. In the digital environment, this is particularly evident. Vulnerabilities are generally considered using a group-based approach: ethnic minorities, children, the elderly, people with disabilities, etc. However, this static approach might prove to be inaccurate: the digital media have reshaped groups and individuals by inducing new vulnerabilities and creating different vulnerable sub-groups of users, consumers, citizens, and data subjects. This book is conceived not only to show problems but to offer a perspective of critical optimism towards viable solutions. The EU General Data Protection Regulation is not just the legal instrument used to analyse criticalities in the existing digital world but it is also primarily a forward-looking set of tools that, though largely underexplored, might prove to be essential in rebalancing power asymmetries and mitigating induced vulnerabilities in the age of AI. While many authors have focused on the nuances of data controllers and data processors, few scholars have focused on the characteristics of the data subjects. Accordingly, this book has three related goals: (i) investigating the notion of the data subject and understanding whether and how personal conditions influence the definition and the protection this subject; (ii) reconceptualizing the notion of vulnerability in the data protection framework, proposing a layered, contextual, and relational notion; (iii) promoting a vulnerability-aware interpretation of the GDPR. The aim of this book is to start promoting the data subjects’ layered vulnerability as a heuristic tool in order to re-interpret the GDPR and to reconceptualize the risk-based approach on an individual-centred basis.

Authors 1

1. Gianclaudio Malgieri corresponding Aachen Associate Professor of Law and Technology

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Associate Professor of Law and Technology, Leiden University