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Personal data

Personal data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual, whether directly, like a name, or indirectly, like a device identifier.

What matters

What counts as personal data is broader than commonly assumed; data that seems anonymous can still count as personal if it can be linked back to a specific person.

Example

A customer's email address, home address, and even a precise location history are each forms of personal data.

Common misconception

Removing an obvious identifier like a name does not automatically make data non-personal; other details can still make a specific individual identifiable.

Recall question

Why can data without an obvious name attached still count as personal data?

Keywords and related concepts

personal dataidentifiable individualprivacyprivacy risk

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