The protection of inaccurate personal data: the most ethical approach for a positive protection of identity?

The protection of the individual in the era of information technology has been axed in the European Union on the 'right to the protection of personal data', or 'right to data protection'. The right to data protection as an autonomous fundamental right is surrounded by a user-control, informational self-determination discourse emphasising its potential to place in the hands of individuals the choices determining how they are presented and, eventually, re-presented. This paper focuses on a critical assessment of the right to data protection, and concretely of its configuration in the 2000 European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights, which grants individuals the right to 'rectify' personal data. It claims that such special protection of the right to 'rectify' presupposes a notion of 'accuracy' of personal data paradoxically contrary to informational self-determination. The paper discusses the benefits of disseminating 'inaccurate' data in general and in the special contexts of social networking (Web 2.0) and new security practices, pointing out inter alia their potential to enhance the role of individuals in the construction of knowledge through data mining and profiling techniques, as well as its importance of allowing for ethical choices regarding the categorisation of the other.