Personal data plays a key role in economic life. It is the "oil" of the 21st century. Data has a considerable asset value. It is not only a prerequisite for the utilisation of services or must be provided when purchasing goods via internet shops. In some cases, it already serves as a means of payment, as users can purchase goods or services in exchange for their data.
Personal data (Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR)
The term "personal data" is defined in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Accordingly, personal data are:
- all data relating to an identified natural person, or
- Data relating to an identifiable natural person.
In addition to the name, address or date of birth, this includes the following groups of data, for example:
- Demographic data (age, gender, marital status)
- Telecommunications data (Telephone number, mobile phone number, e-mail address)
- Identification numbers (identity card number, tax number, pension insurance number, etc.)
- Bank details (credit card number, account number)
- Geo data (location data)
- Online data (IP address)
- Health data (medical history data, genetic data)
- Biometric data (eye scan, fingerprint)
Standard for online shops in all sectors: The visitor statistics
For blogs and shops without third-party tracking components, only the online data of users is generally relevant. If products are sent, the privacy policy must contain corresponding passages on the processing of addresses and order data and must be confirmed before the order is placed. Analysis tools from providers such as WordPress record the number and duration of visits to the website as well as IP addresses and their origin.