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Inaccuracy as a privacy-enhancing tool

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Abstract

The accuracy principle is one of the key standards of informational privacy. It epitomises the obligation for those processing personal data to keep their records accurate and up-to-date, with the aim of protecting individuals from unfair decisions. Currently, however, different practices being put in place in order to enhance the protection of individuals appear to deliberately rely on the use of ‘inaccurate’ personal information. This article explores such practices and tries to assess their potential for privacy protection, giving particular attention to their legal implications and to related ethical issues. Ultimately, it suggests that the use of ‘inaccurate’ data can potentially play a useful role to preserve the informational autonomy of the individual, and that any understandings of privacy or personal data protection that would tend to unduly limit such potential should be critically questioned.

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Abbreviations

ECHR:

European convention of human rights and fundamental freedoms

EU:

European Union

OECD:

Organization for economic co-operation and development

PETS:

Privacy enhancing technologies

US:

United States

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to express her sincere gratitude to Mireille Hildebrandt and Robin S. Dillon for their very kind encouragement and critical comments on some of the ideas expressed in the article. The author also thanks the two anonymous referees for their insightful comments and suggestions on earlier versions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for European Studies (IES), Research Group on Law, Science, Technology & Society (LSTS), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 15, 5th floor, 1050, Brussel, Belgium

    Gloria González Fuster

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Correspondence to Gloria González Fuster.

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Fuster, G.G. Inaccuracy as a privacy-enhancing tool. Ethics Inf Technol 12, 87–95 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-009-9212-z

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