dataeigendom

Dataeigendom is the concept that data can be owned or subject to exclusive control by a person or organization. In Dutch and broader European discourse, it is used to describe rights to collect, store, use, share and monetize data. The idea suggests that data can have property-like value and may be bought, sold or licensed under contractual arrangements.

Legally, data ownership is not a uniform category. Personal data are primarily governed by privacy and data-protection rules, such as who may process them and under what basis. Individuals retain certain rights over their own data, while organizations often hold processing rights as data controllers or possess databases under copyright, database rights, or contractual licenses. Ownership of a dataset may arise from contracts or property-like claims, but the data itself remains subject to applicable laws and rights.

In practice, organisations use data governance, data stewardship and licensing to manage ownership-like claims. Clear data-use agreements, access controls, data provenance, and compliance with privacy rules are essential. Debates about data ownership address issues such as incentive for data collection, control over data assets, data portability, competition, and the risk of data monopolies or misuse.

See also: data governance, data portability, privacy, copyright, database right, data sovereignty.