Researching with Data Rights

Abstract

The concentration and privatization of data infrastructures has a deep impact
on independent research. This article positions data rights as a useful tool in researchers’ toolbox to obtain access to enclosed datasets. It does so by providing an overview of relevant data rights in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, and describing different use cases in which they might be particularly valuable. While we believe in their potential, researching with data rights is still very much in its infancy. A number of legal, ethical and methodological issues are identified and explored. Overall, this article aims both to explain the potential utility of data rights to researchers, as well as to provide appropriate initial conceptual scaffolding for important discussions around the approach to occur.

Note: [Note to readers: this is very much a work-in-progress draft and I welcome any feedback readers might have. The current version has been discussed at the Privacy Law Scholars Conference in Berkeley 30-31 June 2019.]

Keywords: Data Rights, Access, Transparency, GDPR, Research Method, Methodology