North Data’s Philosophy on this duality
Did I catch you yawning? Ok, then give me the chance to convince you that this topic isn't boring at all.
It is not just about data protection, but about the duo of data protection AND freedom of information. They are two sides of the same coin, very different and yet very closely linked. So, to set a common ground here:
Data protection protects individuals by making sure that specific, personal and confidential information is not being distributed freely
Freedom of information The public's right to access information of general interest.
Those two belong together like the sun and the moon; meaning that a significant overweight of one or the other is putting the equation in a misbalance. We do need sunlight as much as we need shadow, a time to rest, sleep, recover. The state of Germany understands this duality. That's why the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information oversees both, ensuring neither overshadows the other.
That student party hangover photo which remains online decades after posted? That's your data protection at stake. But what about not being able to identify who is the owner of a certain building, when for example heating is not being paid for? That's where freedom of information comes in.
Ranking data privacy above everything can backfire in a society. If information of public interest is not openly available, it might create a breeding soil for criminal action; or, at least, it becomes easier to hide something from somebody. Sounds like a grey area? Indeed! Clearly, having access to information helps to put reality into perspective. That is also why Transparency International, which is the global organisation who publishes the well-known Corruption Perception Index annually, is putting a lot of emphasis on the right to information to foster a basis for economic activity. “The right to information is [...] to fight corruption through knowledge.” as they state in their article right to information.
At North Data, we are compiling and aggregating data from official sources, such as trade registers, trade mark offices, and transparency databases. As these sources vary by country, our Countries and Sources Coverage page lists all sources by country, alongside the update frequency. Compiled, translated, enhanced and aggregated, this information can be accessed by a broad range of people and we try to make it as easy as possible to understand the information. We know that it still can be quite complex, but hopefully already much easier than if you had to pull the data from each individual register, dig through the papers, worry about translations etc.
So in essence, North Data is providing access to the officially published information to gain greater transparency. And yet, our focus on transparency and freedom of information is not to be misunderstood: we believe in transparency, but not at the expense of personal privacy. We do spend many hours every week investigating and deciding whether information needs to be protected or remains freely available.
So, it is about the balance between the two, not about a choice of one over the other. Achieving and sustaining this balance is a daily practice.