Data protection law

Das Dateisystem looks as if it should mean a data system, and on a computer it names the file system that organises a disk. In the Regulation it is neither: the German text uses it where the English has « filing system », meaning any structured set of personal data that can be searched by some criterion. A box of index cards sorted by surname qualifies, so the paper records in it are covered, while loose papers kept in no particular order are not. The trap sits in the first half of the word. Die Datei is not data but a single file, the thing you save, attach and delete; data is die Daten, and the lawyer’s singular is das Datum. An English reader who sees Datei and thinks « data » has mistaken a container for its contents, and in this subject that is the very distinction that decides whether the law applies at all.