The Failure of Control Rights in the Big Data Era – Does a Holistic Approach Offer a Solution?

In the big-­data era the increasing, ubiquitous processing of personal data dilutes data protection rights and limits individual control over data. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was intended to mitigate the tensions, but the amended law is not revolutionary. However, it does incorporate a few novel solutions. Their common point is that they bear strong resemblance to legal instruments in domains other than data protection law. The most striking examples of the interplay can be found in Chapter 2 on data subjects' control rights: data portability, the right to be forgotten and the right to information. This novel policy approach implies the potential for a more holistic legal scheme in the EU law in relation to personal data that could eventually lead to a better balance between data subjects' rights and economic needs in the big-­data economy