Privacy as personality right: why the ECtHR’s focus on ulterior interests might prove indispensable in the age of Big Data

Article 8 ECHR was adopted as a classic negative right, which provides the citizen protection from unlawful and arbitrary interference by the state with his private and family life, home and communication. The ECtHR, however, has gradually broadened its scope so that the right to privacy encroaches upon other provisions embodied in the Convention, includes rights and freedoms explicitly left out of the ECHR by the drafters of the Convention and functions as the main pillar on which the Court has built its practice of opening up the Convention for new rights and freedoms. Consequently, Article 8 ECHR has been transformed from a classic privacy right to a personality right, providing protection to the personal development of individuals. Apart from its theoretical significance, this shift might prove indispensable in the age of Big Data, as personality rights protect a different type of interest, which is far more easy to substantiate in the new technological paradigm than those associated with the right to privacy

The exposome in development and behaviour of inflammatory bowel disease

In this thesis, the role of environmental and lifestyle factors, the exposome, in etiology as well as course of disease of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) was examined. After development and validation of the Groningen IBD Environmental questionnaire (GIEQ), a large number of exposome factors was studied by comparing patients with IBD to population-based controls from the Lifelines Cohort study, identifying novel, modifiable, exposome factors possibly involved in disease development, among which prenatal smoke exposure. A large number of exposome factors was also examined for their association with development of disease complications such as the need for biological therapy, IBD-related surgery and development of colorectal neoplasia (CRN). Physical activity for example, was shown to have a beneficial effect, while a high visceral fat volume increased risk of disease-related complications. Also, this thesis shed light on the controversial association of the Mycobacterium Avium Paratuberculosis (MAP) and IBD. While using stringent criteria for test quality and repeatability, this thesis shows an increased use of biological therapy in those with a high immune response to MAP. Finally, cigarette smoke exposure was associated with CRN development in IBD with a clear improvement of risk stratification over the current surveillance guidelines used. These studies have once more shown the importance of the exposome, which offers the possibility of chance. An opportunity that shouldn’t be overlooked by researchers nor clinicians

Online tracking: Questioning the power of informed consent

Online tracking technologies have raised considerable concerns regarding privacy and the protection of personal data of users. In order to help users to regain control over their personal data, Europe has amended its ePrivacy directive towards an opt-in regime. There are however many open questions concerning its implementation, especially regarding the issue of informed consent. This paper explores how the new legal situation impacts on behavioral advertising practices via the storing and reading of cookies in the Netherlands. The results show that the majority of the surveyed parties involved in behavioural advertising do not inform users about the storing of cookies or the purposes of data processing of the subsequently obtained data, neither do they have obtained users' consent for the storage of cookies. We also found that the majority of users lack the skills and knowledge how to handle cookies. These findings critically question the wisdom of the informed consent regime which lies currently at the heart of Europe's ePrivacy directive. --Online behavioural advertising,profiling,cookies,informed consent,Do Not Track,ePrivacy Directive