PRIVACY AND PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA – CRIMINAL LAW ASPECT
PRIVACY AND PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA – CRIMINAL LAW ASPECT

Summary/Abstract: Currently, across the globe and on different levels, serious debates are held on thepossibilities of modern information communication technologies (ICT), including theinternet, as well as their undesirable consequences. To an ordinary person, the “new” wayof communicating via the internet and mobile phone is at the same time easy, simple,quick, and essential – it has become a fact of their daily lives. Moreover, the modern agepurports the internet as one of the critical means of communication. If used “properly”, itrepresents an abundance of information on nearly every topic and entails many opportunities.With a vast and varied amount of collected data, it easily negotiates the acquirementof new learning and the shaping of lifestyle. However, the use of modern technologieswhich constantly transform, at times even completely changing and automatisingnearly all areas of human activity, has its dark, destructive, and devastating side. Withinthat perspective, life in a network becomes increasingly more susceptible to manipulationand abuse. And the list of abuses is long... from having these technologies abused as adatabase, to an assault on someone’s privacy, stalking, cyber-mobbing, peer violence, sexualharassment and violence, human trafficking, organ trafficking, etc. Thus, a stance isformed – the emergence of new technologies has significantly endangered the right to privacy.In recent years, the right to privacy has been mostly associated with personal data, so,in that regard – when speaking about privacy, it is nearly always done in the context of personaldata processing. The right to privacy and personal data protection falls within basichuman rights, so, being that it is a fundamental right of man and citizen, the baseline ofits protection in our legislation is comprised within, above all, the Constitution, The Lawof data protection and The Criminal Code (Art. 146. Unauthorized collection of personaldata). As the title suggests, the criminal law aspect of privacy and protection of personaldata provided for in Art. 143 of the CC is the focus of this paper. In this context, the author first of all, embarked on an analysis of the current state of threats to the right to privacy asa prerequisite for action in the direction of its protection. Abandoning the general considerationof this type, the examination is then focused on concretely explaining the meaningand essence of the criminal act – unauthorized collection of personal data, the formsin which it manifests itself, the criminal responsibility and punishment of the person whocommitted this act. With the statement that this is a dynamically changing reality, someof the key problems and challenges in the application of appropriate mechanisms for theprotection of the right to privacy in the Republic of Serbia (with a special emphasis on theyear behind us) were highlighted.

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