Selçuk University Law Academy — Personal Data Protection through the Pandemic

On April 19, 2020, in an online conference organized by the Selçuk University Law Academy and moderated by Özge Uçak, our Managing Partner Erdem Mümtaz Hacıpaşaoğlu gave a talk titled “Personal Data Protection Through the Lens of the Corona Pandemic.”

The central thesis of the session was clear: during the pandemic, the processing of health data, employee monitoring, education platforms and government applications rapidly exposed where data-protection law bends — and where its limits hold — under extraordinary conditions.

Balancing health data and public safety

The session addressed the sensitive-data status of health data processed because of the pandemic, the scope of the public-safety justification, and the proportionality of data-processing purposes.

Remote work, education and digital platforms

The position of remote-education platforms with respect to children’s data, the limits of remote employee monitoring, and the legal framework around government applications (such as HES-code style systems) were discussed.

Highlights from this conference

• Health data: Sensitive-data status, proportionality
• Remote work: Limits of employee monitoring
• Education: Children’s data, remote platforms

You can watch the conference on YouTube.