In General
We can respond to the question of why the protection of personal data is necessary as follows: When states establish data protection policies, they aim to balance and protect multiple values that may conflict with each other, such as the right to privacy, the free flow of information, freedom of expression, state surveillance for public safety, tax practices, and more. Regulations aimed at protecting personal data are not absolute punitive measures, as is often the case in criminal law. They do not protect individuals from the processing of their data per se but rather from unlawful and illegitimate processing. It is generally accepted that private and public actors who process data often need to do so for social interests. The real objective of regulations concerning the protection of personal data is to safeguard individuals from unlawful and illegitimate processing, particularly in terms of collection, storage, use, and distribution. At the center of this approach is the goal of protecting the right to privacy and preventing unjust interventions in private life. These regulations determine under what circumstances data collection, processing, and distribution are lawful. This approach suggests that data processing can be carried out fairly, for specific purposes, with the consent of the data subject, and based on legal justifications specified in the legislation. Regulations concerning the protection of personal data prohibit the processing of data just as they do for sensitive personal data. The fundamental principle that determines what is lawful and what is prohibited is that data can only be processed for clearly defined, legitimate purposes and cannot be processed in any situation contrary to those purposes. As a result of this principle, the data subject has the right to access their personal data, the right to request correction of their personal data, the right to protection against the use of automated profiling, the right to seek assistance from data protection authorities, the right to request precautionary measures, the right to request non-disclosure of data without their consent and without the permission of authorized legal authorities, and the right to request the collection of only accurate data. The rules and principles concerning data protection related to data processors, data control authorities, and data subjects are increasing and gaining importance day by day. This cycle seems never-ending. New rules and principles are particularly driven by new technological developments. The necessity of protecting personal data is grounded in reasons such as human dignity, individual autonomy, the right to self-determination in informational terms, the balance of power, democracy, and pluralism.[1]
[1] P. De Hert and S. Gutwirth, Data Protection in the Case Law of Strasbourg and Luxemburg: Constitutiona-lisation in Action.
Attorney Yalçın Torun
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