The right to the protection of personal data and the recognition of informational self-determination in the Chilean constitution

Abstract

The paper examines the recognition of the right to the protection of personal data as a fundamental right in the Chilean Constitution. To this end, it reviews the legislative history of the constitutional amendment and the main debates that took place. In particular, three dilemmas are reviewed: First, the need to constitutionalize or not informational self-determination as a fundamental right; second, the normative density required to constitutionalize the right; and, third, the legal relationship of entitlement or ownership over personal data. The text concludes by anticipating two challenges for the legal regulation of the right: First, regarding the type of constitutional referral to the legislator to protect personal data and, second, the jurisdictional protection of informational self-determination and, in particular, the protection of the right through the recurso de protección, through habeas data and through a specialized agency as control authority.