Who do most ethicists say owns personal data?

• A. The data subject.
• B. The data collector.
• C. The government.
• D. The data processor.

Answer: (A)

Controlling personal information is about autonomy and privacy. Most ethicists would say the data subject owns personal data, meaning the person the data is about has claim-rights to decide how it’s collected, stored, used, shared, and deleted. The entities that handle data—the data collectors and the data processors—are custodians with duties to respect those rights, obtain consent, and protect the data, but they don’t own it in the moral sense. The government may regulate practices, yet ownership rests with the data subject because personal data ties directly to identity and personal autonomy. In practical terms, you should be able to access your data, correct inaccuracies, and request deletion or transfer; these rights illustrate the subject’s ownership and control over their information.