Privacy Management and Protection of Personal Data

In this chapter, we will give detailed consideration to the ways in which the use of technology can infringe on privacy. We will consider technologies that have been around for the last decade revolutionizing the way in which we buy, communicate, contribute and obtain information, and emerging technologies, which use communicating objects (radio frequency identification (RFID), sensors, smartdust, etc.) to provide future solutions for facilitating everyday life. This development creates issues concerning the application of legal provisions, particularly concerning the collection, use and transmission of personal data. The existing rules, defined in the late 1970s, serve to defend the privacy of users, alongside other fundamental rights and liberties, including freedom of movement and self-determination. This legal framework is applicable to all technologies, whether they concern direct identification data (names and surnames) or indirect identification elements (biometric elements, DNA).