Home is where the heart is: the household exemption in the 21st century

Abstract

The household exemption provides that the data protection regime does not apply when a natural person processes personal data for purely personal or household activities. The exemption was inserted because personal and household activities were considered to fall under the right to privacy and because it was deemed unlikely that such activities would cause significant harm. Ever since its introduction, but especially due to its interpretation by the Court of Justice and the partial revision under the GDPR, ambiguity and uncertainty have plagued the exemption. Moreover, because of the increased access of citizens to data processing technologies and the ease with which large amounts of (sensitive) data can be made public, the question is whether the initial rationale for the household exemption is still valid and whether it should be revised or even omitted from the data protection regime.