Data protection: who has access to your data?

21st February 2025

What are the 7 key Rights* you have in the UK that can help to keep your personal information secure?

Our data is collected sometimes for our convenience, other times for legal reasons and frequently because someone would like to use that data to sell you something.

This is particularly the case when we’re online: every site we visit has multiple ways of tracking your information, potentially being able to use that data to target you for advertising.

That might be frustrating, but the worst impact of this type of data collection is the increased security risk – the more places that have your data stored, the higher the chance that one of these sites is breached and your information is leaked to bad actors.

So how can we keep using sites while also keep our personal information safe? The UK Data Protection Act 2018* outlines the rights you have while visiting websites in the UK:

Right to be Informed – to know how your data is being collected.

Right of Access – you can request access to information a site holds on you.

Right to Rectification – if data is wrong you have the right to have it corrected.

Right to Erasure – under certain circumstances you can request your data be deleted.

Right to Restrict Processing – you can ask to limit how your data is used.

Right to Data Portability – you can request your data to transfer it to another service.

Rights Related to Automated Decision-Making – you can request human intervention.

These regulations don’t make it impossible for websites to track your data, but they do limit how your data can be used, keeping your details more secure.

If you would like more information on the rights you have to your data, please contact us HERE.

*https://www.gov.uk/data-protection

*https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/12/contents/enacted