Implementation of Digital Data Erasure

An Interdisciplinary Perspective

Abstract

Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, this article examines data erasure by comparing the legal notion of data erasure to its definition in computer science as well as its applicability to digital data. Our analysis aims at identifying potential technological biases in the law-making of the current data protection policies.

We lay out an analysis of data erasure as enshrined in the “right to erasure”. We focus on both the General Data Protection Regulation and the Revised Swiss Data Protection Act. In that regard, we highlight how both legislations define erasure and, consequently, how legal scholars, data protection authorities as well as case law approach its implementation.

We compare data erasure in the context of digital data to the destruction of information in the analog sense and discuss the fundamental ways in which digital data require their own mental framework. We identify the main schools of thought regarding practical interpretations of erasure and highlight potential pitfalls regarding their implementation.

We conclude by exploring how technological biases in current legislation allow data controllers to retain personal data in digital form while still complying with the law, and by opening up the discussion to how incorporating more domain-specific knowledge could improve the legislative process.