Data Sovereinty

 Data Sovereignty

Data sovereignty is the idea that data is subject to the laws and regulations of the country or region where it is collected, stored, and processed. It can also refer to the rights of individuals or groups to control and maintain their data.

Data sovereignty is related to data security, cloud computing, network sovereignty, and technological sovereignty. It can also be closely linked to data localization, which is the practice of storing data within a country or region's physical boundaries.

Data sovereignty is essential for several reasons, including:

Data protection

Data sovereignty allows businesses to protect their data from unauthorized access or breaches.

Business continuity

Data sovereignty ensures businesses can access their data during a disaster or disruption.

Competitive advantage

Data sovereignty can be a competitive advantage for businesses committed to protecting customer data.

Some examples of data sovereignty include:

The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

California's Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

Indigenous data sovereignty, which asserts the rights of Native nations and Indigenous Peoples to govern their own data

 Data Custodian

A data custodian is a person or organization responsible for managing and protecting data. They ensure that data is secure and accessible and that it is not altered, destroyed, or used without authorization.

Some of the responsibilities of a data custodian include:

Data security: Managing the security controls and technology around data confidentiality, integrity, and availability

Data access control: Controlling access rights to data

Data governance: Implementing data policies and rules

Data quality management: Ensuring data quality is maintained

Data maintenance: Maintaining the technical environment where data is stored

Data audits: Ensuring changes to data content and controls can be audited

Data recovery: Providing and administering backup and recovery systems

Data custodians are data modelers or ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) developers. They are often responsible for resolving data storage, processing, and usage issues.

 Data Owner

A data owner is a person or group that is responsible for the quality, integrity, and use of data within an organization:

They are accountable for the data's governance and quality

They are responsible for ensuring that the data is processed lawfully, transparently, and for a specific purpose

They are responsible for making sure the data is accurate and used appropriately

They are responsible for ensuring that the data complies with adopted standards

Data owners are typically senior organizational stakeholders because they need the authority, budget, and resources to perform their roles correctly. They are responsible for deciding on data quality, cleaning, and resource allocation. They also make strategic decisions about data catalogs, such as which datasets should be most prominent.

Data owners work with data custodians responsible for the technical aspects of data catalogs, such as ensuring the accuracy of metadata and data relationships.

 Data Processor

A data processor is an entity that processes personal data for a data controller, following the controller's instructions. Data processors can be individuals, businesses, public authorities, or legal entities.

Here are some responsibilities of a data processor:

Data security

Data processors must ensure that the data is secure and confidential.

Compliance

Data processors must ensure their processing complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Data subject rights

Data processors must ensure that the rights of data subjects are protected.

Data processor agreement

Data processors must enter into a data processor agreement with the data controller.

Data processors can include:

Calculators

Computers

Cloud service providers

Third-party companies, such as payroll or email marketing companies

Call centers

Data processors are different from data controllers, who decide how and why to collect and process data. Data processors are contractually bound to follow the instructions of the data controller.

 Data Controller

A data controller is a person or entity that determines how and why personal data is processed. They are responsible for the lawfulness of the processing, protecting the data, and respecting the data subject's rights.

Some of the responsibilities of a data controller include:

Deciding how to collect, store, use, alter, and disclose personal data

Providing information to data subjects

Ensuring there is a legitimate basis for processing activities

Giving effect to data subjects' rights under the GDPR

Ensuring that there is appropriate security for data processed

A data controller can be a legal person, such as a business, public authority, agency, or other body. In some cases, EU or Member State law may determine the controller and the purposes and means of processing personal data.

A data controller may delegate the processing to another party, called the data processor. For example, if a gym hires a printing company to produce invitations for a promotional event, the gym controls the personal information, and the printing company is the data processor.

 Right to be Forgotten

The right to be forgotten, also known as the right to erasure, is the right to have private information removed from search engines and other directories. This right was established in the European Union in 2014 and is now codified in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The right to be forgotten allows individuals to request that search engines remove specific results for queries related to their name. Search engines must consider whether the information is inaccurate, irrelevant, or excessive and if there is a public interest in keeping it available.

The right to be forgotten applies when:

The data is no longer needed for its original purpose

The data subject has withdrawn their consent

The data subject has objected to the processing

The data was unlawfully processed

The data must be erased to comply with a legal obligation

 Data Retention Policy

A data retention policy is a set of guidelines that an organization uses to manage how it stores and disposes of data. It helps organizations comply with regulations and meet business needs while reducing the risk of storing data longer than necessary.

A data retention policy should include:

Data types: What types of data to keep, such as financial, legal, health, or personal data

Retention periods: How long to keep each type of data, based on business needs and regulations

Storage location: Where to store the data, such as on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid storage environment

Access controls: Who can access the data, how they can access it, and when access is granted

Data destruction: How to destroy the data when its retention period ends

Backup storage procedures: How to recover data in the event of loss

A data retention policy is part of an organization's overall data management plan. It's based on the rules of the regulatory body that governs the organization's industry.