Privacy goes Iconic

Improving data protection regulation through legal visualisation

• Johanna Göschlberger

As technology becomes more heavily relied upon to carry out day to day tasks as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis, the increased processing of personal data is inevitable. Yet, data protection policies are rarely read due to a variety of factors. The GDPR provides data subjects with rights to determine whether or not to consent to a processing of personal data. The paper argues that a mandatory introduction of standardised privacy icons could, in combination with privacy information, significantly foster data subject rights and counteract behavioral obstacles which are often deliberately used by data driven companies.