The increasing digitalization of society has led to new legal issues related to the protection of personal integrity, particularly the protection of personal data. Digitalization allows for greater possibilities for private individuals to access the personal data of others. As the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is not applicable on treatment of personal data by individuals, there is a risk of a loophole forming allowing breaches of personal integrity committed by individuals. This paper clarifies the meaning of the term ‘personal integrity’ in a digital context, focusing on how digital integrity is separate from physical integrity, and which key elements constitute personal integrity, be it physical or digital. The paper also discusses how the term previously has been used in legal documents, notably in the UDHR, the EU Charter (focus on dignity) and Swedish legislation (focus on the personal sphere). Furthermore, the paper examines whether the protection of personal integrity can motivate an infringement of the right to personal autonomy of the individual in question. The discussion on personal integrity is followed by an analysis of the protection on a physical and digital level respectively in order to clarify whether the different protections can be considered equivalent, and to what extent it would be appropriate for them to be so. This is done taking into account that strengthening protections of personal information would require limiting the individual’s right to autonomy, which in turn infringes upon their dignity. The consequences that can arise by an intrusion of the digital integrity can be serious, wherefore one could argue that the protection thereof should be as strong as the protection from intrusions of the individual’s physical integrity. Should the consequences of intrusion of personal integrity be as strong on both the physical and digital level, then the protection of digital integrity may need to be strengthened. This could potentially require further infringements of the individual’s right to autonomy. Such an infringement must therefore always be preceded by an appropriate proportionality assessment, aiming to find a solution minimizing the total infringement on the rights of the individual.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-180889 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Lindeberg Sandahl, Lisa |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Juridiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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