> The executive in charge of that said, impressively, "we didn't exactly know why we might need it in the future, but we thought we should save that data."
Nowadays, that could be a GDPR violation.
Nowadays, that could be a GDPR violation.
GDPR only relates to personal data. The data discussed here clearly isn't personal by any stretch of the imagination. This is the same mentality that thinks ordinary website cookies fall under the GDPR. They don't, unless you are using them to track me or identify me (advertisers take a bow), in which case, you need to ask my permission to do so. And so you should.
Also, if you google “are car number plates personal data”, I don’t think anybody can reasonably conclude that is incorrect for car number plates. Certainly, https://sapphireconsulting.co.uk/2020/07/17/is-a-car-registr..., http://www.privacylegal.eu/personaldata.html, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/205002/10379059/DPR-..., https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protectio..., https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/car_number_plates_per... (to pick a few from google’s first result page) agree car number plates could be personal data.
I don’t see why plane number plates would be different. Yes, few planes are privately owned, but some definitely are, and they store data that can be used to find out where your plane was.
Also, if there is personal data in there, “we didn’t know whether it would ever be used, but started recording this information anyways” clearly is against the GDPR.
So, I stand by my claim this could be a GDPR violation nowadays.