Enter to open, tab to navigate, enter to select
Personal Information
Practical Law Glossary Item 1-501-8805 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Personal Information
Also known as personally-identifiable information (PII) and personal data. Broadly, the term refers to information that can be used to identify, locate, or contact an individual, alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information.
Examples of personal information include an individual's:
- Name.
- Home or other physical address.
- Email address.
- Telephone number.
- Social Security number.
- Passport number.
- Driver's license number.
- Bank account number.
- Credit or debit card number.
- Personal characteristics, including photographic image, fingerprints, handwriting or other unique biometric data.
For US federal and state privacy and data security laws, the precise definition of personal information varies depending on the specific jurisdiction and law and may be more narrowly defined. For more information, see State Data Breach Laws Protected Personal Information Chart: Overview.
European Union data protection laws use the similar term "personal data." Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (referred to as a data subject). An identifiable person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to identifiers like the person's:
- Name.
- Identification number.
- Location data.
- Online identifier (like IP addresses, cookies, and radio frequency identification tags) (see Recital 30, GDPR).
- Physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural, or social identity.
(Article 4(1), GDPR.)