What Is Personal Data And Its Examples?

Your personal data is everywhere today. All your providers, services, traders, employers collect your personal data as soon as they know you. But do you really know what personal data is?

Find out in this article how to recognize personal data.

When We Talk About Direct Access To Personal Data

This means access to the citizen’s complete information sheet on a database or a paper document containing all the precise identification information.

For example :

• A client file
• A payslip
• A medical record
• An invoice or a quote
• Any paper document or element of an electronic database which would gather elements allowing the identification of an individual.

When We Talk About Indirect Access To Personal Data

We mean access to data that would identify a European citizen by crossing it with other data sources.

For example :

• A telephone number makes it possible to find the name and address of a citizen, through a telephone directory.
• A license plate makes it possible to find the name and address of a citizen, through the file of grey cards.
• The social security number makes it possible to find the contact details and the citizen’s medical file through the social security file.

Examples Of Personal Data

Here are some examples of personal data.

For example :

• A name, a first name, a photo , are personal data that can be found for example on access badges within your company.
• An email address that can be used on a simple search engine to find the person concerned. It is personal data.
• Have you ever tried typing your email address into Google’s search box?
• A phone number. all you need is a telephone directory to find information on European citizens.
• A CV, an application, which you receive every day by post. If you leave it lying around in your office or on the counter of your store, it is data directly accessible to everyone.
• An employee’s payslip contains a great deal of personal data.
• Your professional address book, even if the name of a company is not personal data, the file of a customer in your database always contains the name of a salesperson or a director.
• CCTV footage.
• Please note that all images recorded by CCTV cameras installed in your company are personal data. They are subject to the general data protection regulations and must be protected in the same way as the personal information of your employees.
• A patient’s social security number, for example, could provide access to a medical file. In this case, we are talking about very sensitive personal data.
• A license plate which allows the name and address of the holder of the registration card to be traced.
• An IP address, which is recorded on the server when you connect to your website. This personal data can be traced back to the user’s address via the operator’s file.

This small, non-exhaustive list includes a few examples of personal data, but there are still many others that are governed by the GDPR to optimize the confidentiality of your personal data.

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