DATA PRIVACY IN THE DIGITAL AGE: BALANCING SECURITY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

The protection of privacy involves protecting the individual's private data1
from being gathered,
used, processed, disclosed, or exploited by third parties, including individuals, private entities,
or governmental agencies. The rise in digital communication and digital data processing, for
monetary transactions and service delivery, has made the personal data the most precious asset
of modern societies, and there has been an exponential increase in its generation, storage, and
processing as individuals rely on digital platforms to communicate, transact business, and
access services offered by the government and private sectors. In other words, the massive
volume of personal data creation, storage, and processing has triggered the requirement for a
legal framework to guarantee the individual's right to privacy of data from exploitation by third
parties
Personal data can include (though not limited to) name, address, birth date, governmental
identification number, medical number, banking details, health record (disease), geographical
area (place of living), electronic mail (history) and prior search type (types) performed. The
access to this information without the person’s authorization could lead to various harmful
outcomes, including identity theft, cybercrime, tracking, profiling or different kinds of
discrimination. Thus, one of the key aspects of data privacy is the provision of individuals with
the opportunity to regulate the manner of collecting and disseminating their personal
information by governments/private companies. One of the key aspects of data privacy is
informational self-determination. It means that an individual determines whether he/she wants
his/her personal information to be disclosed to third parties or not