Генезис персональных данных: информационно-правовой аспект

Abstract

Introduction. The paper reveals the historical aspect of the emergence and development of the legal protection of personal data in Russia. The prerequisites for the formation of a conscious need for such protection on a Russian basis are analyzed. The author expresses the idea of the origin of the legal protection of personal data in the depths of the right to privacy, since the latter was not only formed at the earlier stages of the historical development of society but also prepared the conditions and legal tools for the emergence of this institution in the future. Purpose. The origin of the legal institution of personal data protection in Russia is analyzed. Methods. The methodological framework for the research consists of the methods of system analysis, historico-legal, and comparative law. Results. The right to privacy in Russia is presented in the paper as divided into four historical stages. The first stage is associated with the wide expansion of writing in Russia, which necessitated the protection of information contained in postal correspondence. Also, at this stage, only a small number of personal rights were protected. At the second stage, as a result of Peter the Great’s reforms, fundamental changes took place in public life in Russia, which led to the further development of Russian legislation, including the right to privacy. The result of such changes, according to the author of the paper, should be recognized as the consolidation of a sufficiently large number of elements of the right to privacy in the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire. The next stage in the history of the establishment of the institution of personal data in this country is associated with Soviet law. It is characterized by the fact that Soviet law “did not remain aloof” from the rapid development of the world community’s interest in human rights and freedoms in the twentieth century. And finally, at the fourth (modern) stage, the concepts of “personal data” and “their legal protection” arise and exist as independent ones, forming a separate legal institution for the protection of personal data within the framework of private law. Conclusions. Analyzing the above-mentioned concepts and categories as a result of scientific, technical, and social progress, as well as society’s awareness of the need to protect the private sphere of human life, the author states that the legislator’s “attention” is increasingly shifting from state to private secrets, and even the mechanism of the legal provision of state secrets is becoming more and more similar to the mechanism of private law protection.