The crime of recording personal data

In order for the individiual rights and freedoms to be fully actualized, the right to protection of personal data must be established. The information technologies which develop every day, on the other hand, cause the violation of the right to protection of personal data, often unnoticed, when the purpose of use changes. The protection of personal data becomes a necessity in order to prevent these violations and to protect other fundamental rights and freedoms. In the international arena, many regulations have been made to protect this right. Similarly, regulations have been made in Turkish Law either. The right to protection of personal data is regulated in article 20/3 of the Constitution. Through the Law no. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data, the basic regulations concerning this area have been specified. In addition, various provisions regarding the protection of personal data have been included in other laws. Turkish Criminal Code No. 5237 is also a law in which provisions regarding the protection of personal data are established. The crime of recording personal data regulated in the section of crimes committed against private life and the confidential sphere of life and article 135 of the Turkish Criminal Code is among these regulations. The act of recording is one of the most common situations in terms of processing personal data. Regulating of an issue with penal norms relatively increases deterrence in the eyes of society. Deterrence also increases the preventive nature of the protection. Therefore, also in this respect, it is quite valuable that the crime of recording personal data is regulated. Within the scope of this study, the concept of personal data and the right to protection of personal data, the connection of this right with other rights and freedoms, along with the international and national regulations regarding this right, were examined by making use of the doctrine, judicial precedent and legislation.