Rethinking the withdrawal of consent in the functional perspective of privacy

The evolution of the right to privacy has changed its structure and content. Initially focused on the right of a person to be let alone, privacy statutes have gradually evolved to satisfy, on the one hand, also other interests of the data subject and, on the other hand, the interests of different actors involved in personal data processes and circulation. The result is privacy aimed at (i) granting to the data subject not only defensive remedies (such as the right to request erasure, rectification, opposition, etc.), but also remedies that allow him or her to benefit from the circulation of data in many different forms (such as economic use, the right to data portability etc.); and, at the same time (ii) protecting other interests present in the field of data circulation. The protection of various interests involved in data circulation has led both the European legislator and the national legislator to adopt a model of commercial circulation of information and a privacy function aimed at encouraging the circulation of personal data. This function of encouraging the circulation of personal data has led me in this work to adopt a restrictive interpretation of the remedy of withdrawal of consent provided for in Article 7 of the GDPR, that is also respectful of the different interests that gravitate in the world of privacy.