17. Data Protection Law and Responsible Data Science

This chapter provides data scientists with an introduction to data protection law. The aim of this chapter is to provide some basic knowledge and understanding concerning some of the most important principles of data protection law through a general explanation of these key concepts. It will show for instance that the notion of personal data is a very broad one, which encompasses the vast majority of the data processed in contemporary data processing technologies, or that the distinction between a data controller and a data processor can be tricky. It will also show that in order to start a processing of data, one has the choice between six different grounds; however, one ground must be chosen, and when processing data, all the provisions of Art. 5 of the GDPR must be respected. On the one hand, the explanations are general and do not go into too much detail so that they are easily understandable by the reader. On the other hand, they provide for “actionable knowledge”. That is, they will allow the reader to play with and apply the data protection principles herein discussed to their data science applications, so that they can be performed in a socially responsible way.

Five key points are discussed: