Constitutional Interpretation on Secondary Use of Personal Data in Digital Governance
Sajida Humaira1, Azam Azizi Rahman2

1 Universitas Terbuka
2 Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia

Abstract

The development of digital technology had led governments and private sector entities to collect and process increasing amounts of personal data to support digital services and innovation. While these developments offered many benefits, they also increased the risk of the secondary use of personal data, whereby data collected for one purpose were subsequently used for different purposes. Such practices could affect the right to privacy and the protection of personal data. As one of the core principles of personal data protection, the purpose specification principle was intended to ensure that personal data were used only for the purposes for which they were originally collected. However, existing discussions had largely treated this principle as an administrative compliance requirement, with limited attention to its role in protecting constitutional rights.

This paper examined how constitutional values could inform the interpretation of the purpose specification principle in regulating the secondary use of personal data. The research adopted a normative legal methodology using statutory, conceptual, and constitutional approaches. To provide context, the paper also drew selectively on developments in several jurisdictions concerning the relationship between personal data protection and constitutional rights.

This paper argued that the purpose specification principle should be understood as an operational legal principle whose interpretation should be guided by constitutional values. A rights-based interpretation of the principle provided a basis for assessing the legitimacy of the secondary use of personal data by both public and private actors, while supporting the protection of constitutional rights in an increasingly digital society.

Keywords: Constitutional Interpretation, Purpose Specification Principle, Personal Data Protection

Topic: Responsible Governance in the Digital Era: Navigating Transparency, Accountability, and Public Trust (E-Governance- Digital Governance- Transparency- Accountability)