Le perplessità di un utilizzatore di dati di fronte al "Codice di deontologia e buona condotta per il trattamento di dati personali per scopi statistici e scientifici"

Abstract

The new Code misses an important occasion to state clearly that data for statistical research are not a major threat for personal privacy. They are instead a public good that stimulates research allowing for a better understanding of reality and for an easier identification of the instruments that are necessary to improve collective welfare. The goal of the code should have been to allow an easy access to data, punishing severely any violation of privacy. The preference has been instead to impose on individual researchers complicated bureaucratic requirements, which will probably have only costs without benefits. Moreover, the use of the concept of reasonable means to define the cases in which the data allow for the identification of protected subjects raises concern because of its vagueness. The real consequences of the Code will depend on how this concept will be concretely interpreted. This interpretation will in fact determine which data should be considered personal and which ones can instead be considered anonymous.