personatiedon

Personatiedon is the Finnish term used in law and everyday language to refer to information about a living individual that can identify them directly or indirectly. It covers data such as a person’s name, address, national identification number, email, and online identifiers, as well as data that, when combined with other information, could disclose who the person is. The concept also includes sensitive or special categories of data, such as health, biometric, or religious beliefs, when they reveal or imply personal characteristics.

In the European Union, personal data processing is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which applies across member states including Finland. The GDPR defines roles for data controllers and processors and sets limits on how data may be collected, stored, and used. Lawful processing requires a basis such as consent, performance of a contract, legal obligations, vital interests, public tasks, or legitimate interests, and must respect core principles: lawfulness, fairness, transparency, purpose limitation, data minimization, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity, confidentiality, and accountability.

Data subjects have rights over their personatiedon, including access to their data, correction of errors, deletion (the right to be forgotten), restriction of processing, data portability, and objection to certain processing. Special categories of data require higher protection and often explicit consent or an alternative lawful basis. Cross-border transfers are allowed under conditions such as adequacy decisions or appropriate safeguards. Organizations must implement security measures, perform data protection impact assessments for high-risk processing, and report data breaches when required. In practice, personatiedon handling emphasizes privacy by design and responsible data stewardship in an increasingly data-driven environment.