Profiling Technologies and Fundamental Rights and Values: Regulatory Challenges and Perspectives from European Data Protection Authorities

This paper aims to map the field of profiling, its implications for fundamental rights and values, and the measures which are or can be taken to address the challenges of profiling practices. It presents a working definition of profiling and elaborates a typology of its basic methods. In the second section the paper gives an overview of the technological background of profiling to display how fundamental rights and values of European societies are endangered by the use of profiling. Finally the paper presents the findings of a questionnaire addressed to European DPAs on the current and future legal framework, the domains of application, the complaints and remedies procedures regarding the use of profiling techniques, the main risks and benefits for the fundamental rights, and citizens’ awareness on this topic. These findings contribute important insights for the ongoing discussion on the regulation of profiling in Europe.