gdpr privacy european-union personal-information
Can you opt out of use of your personal information by your country&#39;s registry?
<p>I was changing my address a week ago and I noticed that it said in tiny letters that the information I provide may be used for direct advertising, marketting, scientific research, data collection and &quot;other things&quot; (rough translation).</p>
<p>I'm not comfortable with that. I'm not even comfortable with the fact that I am unmarried, married, divorced, undivorced, etc is getting registered somewhere. Even place of birth, although I could see reasons for place of birth (identification). Why would they even need to know my marital status, etc? It's my personal life (if someone comments on that - bonus points!)</p>
<p>Can I legally opt out of such use of my personal information or legally refuse to provide it, according to any of the EU laws? I believe that GDPR only covers websites and not information you provide to the government.</p>

<p>The GDPR does apply to government as well, but that doesn't mean you automatically get a right to opt out. Under GDPR, every collection or further processing of personal data needs a legal basis. Well-known legal bases are “consent” or “legitimate interest”.</p>
<p>But instead, your country's registry will likely operate for “a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority” (Art 6(1)(e) GDPR) or may be under a legal obligation to maintain the registry (Art 6(1)(c) GDPR). Then, it is up to those national laws to specify which data shall be collected and whether and how you can opt out (see Art 6(3) GDPR).</p>
<p>A lot of things seem personal/private, but have interactions with the rest of society. E.g. marriage and divorce is not purely personal, but is a status granted by the state and has implications e.g. for social security and taxation. Similarly, religion might be relevant for taxation. Districts have a legitimate interest in having accurate statistics about the demographics of their residents. It is up to national laws to strike an appropriate balance, and this balance will differ drastically depending on the cultural context. Whereas this paragraph is written from a German perspective (detailed registers but also strong awareness of data protection issues), other countries might not have such registers at all, whereas some even publish personal records such as tax filings.</p>
