In a new ruling, the European Court of Justice has established
that log files generally constitute personal data covered by the
right of access. The decision thus entails a change in the Danish
Data Protection Agency's previous practice, as individuals who
request access to the processing of their personal data now also
have the right to gain access to log files from posts about
them.
This decision means that the scope of a company or
authority's response to an access request is now broader, as
not only the personal data itself in a register or database is
covered by the right of access, but also log files about access to
it.
The right of access
Under the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"),
every person has the right to obtain certain information about how
a data controller processes their personal data and a copy of the
personal data being processed. This right is called the data
subject's right of access.
