5 ms·

How does the GDPR apply to governments storing data? Could I send a letter to the tax authorities and ask them to delete my data?

occamrazor 9y ago
No, and you cannot either ask a company to delete data which must be retained according to the law. However you can ask for a copy of all their data about you, with very limited exceptions (national security, active investigations, etc.)
kenbaylor 9y ago
You can ask, but the recipient company does not have to comply. The tax authorities have a legal obligation to keep the data, and they will. Reference: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/right-to-erasure/ https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-da...
ferongr 9y ago
Obviously the state is exempt from such nonsense.
- detaro 9y ago
  There are exceptions for some purposes, and I won't be surprised if governments try to stretch those as far as they can, but in general GDPR applies to governments as well.
  - dominotw 9y ago
    What about NSA can I ask them what data they have on me?
    - number6 9y ago
      They will tell you, that they are not subject to EU Law. If you ask an EU equivalent they will just tell you that they don't have any data. Or that they might have but can't disclose it because of security concerns.
      - PaulKeeble 9y ago
        Actually if its data held on a EU national they are required to divulge it or be in breach of this. They don't get to dodge it just because they are in the USA, the law applies to any organisation storing data about an EU national.
        dominotw 9y ago
        > Actually if its data held on a EU national they are required to divulge it or be in breach of this. Oh yea I was asking exactly this. How does EU national verify what NSA tells them. There is no way for them.
        Bizarro 9y ago
        Actually if its data held on a EU national they are required to divulge it or be in breach of this. You people can keep on saying that this law pertains to any entity/organization that has any info on any EU citizen, but we know this is untrue. The rest of the world knows that the EU doesn't have this authority, so I don't why you people keep on parroting this line. Let's get something else straight. We know there's political motives behind this law that are orthogonal to "we care about privacy", and other governments know this as well, and will respond to the EU in kind if need be.
        number6 9y ago
        This. If you don't have a location in the EU the court can't send you any orders to comply with. This is how Facebook doged German privacy law. The only reason why Facebook had to answer a EU court was their settlement in Ireland wich they had for taxation reasons. The EU want to implement something like a virtual settlement for Businesses to extend their reach. Arguing that if you make profit in the EU than you have a settlement there. But as long as your country isn't willing to help the EU getting you there is nothing to fear. At least I don't see what they could do. Ban your product... yes... But more than that?
- number6 9y ago
  This is not true.
e12e 9y ago
GDPR most certainly applies to institutions like the tax authority. As others have noted, they are required by law to keep some data/records. But that doesn't mean you don't get to see all that data, can ask for corrections, or ask for deletions in the case where they store data they cannot justify. How this apply (what difference it makes) will vary from institution to institution.

occamrazor 9y ago

No, and you cannot either ask a company to delete data which must be retained according to the law. However you can ask for a copy of all their data about you, with very limited exceptions (national security, active investigations, etc.)

kenbaylor 9y ago

You can ask, but the recipient company does not have to comply. The tax authorities have a legal obligation to keep the data, and they will. Reference: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/right-to-erasure/ https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-da...

ferongr 9y ago

Obviously the state is exempt from such nonsense.

detaro 9y ago
There are exceptions for some purposes, and I won't be surprised if governments try to stretch those as far as they can, but in general GDPR applies to governments as well.
- dominotw 9y ago
  What about NSA can I ask them what data they have on me?
  - number6 9y ago
    They will tell you, that they are not subject to EU Law. If you ask an EU equivalent they will just tell you that they don't have any data. Or that they might have but can't disclose it because of security concerns.
    - PaulKeeble 9y ago
      Actually if its data held on a EU national they are required to divulge it or be in breach of this. They don't get to dodge it just because they are in the USA, the law applies to any organisation storing data about an EU national.
      - dominotw 9y ago
        > Actually if its data held on a EU national they are required to divulge it or be in breach of this. Oh yea I was asking exactly this. How does EU national verify what NSA tells them. There is no way for them.
      - Bizarro 9y ago
        Actually if its data held on a EU national they are required to divulge it or be in breach of this. You people can keep on saying that this law pertains to any entity/organization that has any info on any EU citizen, but we know this is untrue. The rest of the world knows that the EU doesn't have this authority, so I don't why you people keep on parroting this line. Let's get something else straight. We know there's political motives behind this law that are orthogonal to "we care about privacy", and other governments know this as well, and will respond to the EU in kind if need be.
        number6 9y ago
        This. If you don't have a location in the EU the court can't send you any orders to comply with. This is how Facebook doged German privacy law. The only reason why Facebook had to answer a EU court was their settlement in Ireland wich they had for taxation reasons. The EU want to implement something like a virtual settlement for Businesses to extend their reach. Arguing that if you make profit in the EU than you have a settlement there. But as long as your country isn't willing to help the EU getting you there is nothing to fear. At least I don't see what they could do. Ban your product... yes... But more than that?
number6 9y ago
This is not true.

e12e 9y ago

GDPR most certainly applies to institutions like the tax authority. As others have noted, they are required by law to keep some data/records. But that doesn't mean you don't get to see all that data, can ask for corrections, or ask for deletions in the case where they store data they cannot justify. How this apply (what difference it makes) will vary from institution to institution.