The original post: /r/privacy by /u/vandenhof on 2025-05-03 22:42:20.

Note: This is a continuation of the topic begun here. I was not able to reply in comment form so I have created a new post and credited the author or the response which prompted this discussion.

This is actually a really quite interesting topic. I genuinely did not know the extent to which Sweden, in particular, treads this very fine line between constitutional and legislative frameworks and the GDPR, in particular, Art.15, which is really what most people use day to day.

So, I did what everyone today does. I asked ChatGPT; my own ability to focus on anything longer than a half-paragraph was lost in the mid 2010’s.

I was very surprised to learn that my country is actually more in line with Sweden than most of the EU. Still, it’s incredibly hard to get personal information on anyone other than oneself in the UK (before Brexit) and the Republic of Ireland. Still, both jurisdictions appear in ranked order among the top third easiest countries in which to request and receive personally identifying information on a person other than oneself.

ChatGPT is, of course, subject to errors and might have been influenced by the course of our session before I asked it to produce a ranked order list of the EU-27 Countries by ease of data access.

Here is what it produced:

1. **Finland**: Similar to Sweden, Finland has a tradition of transparency and public access to information, making it relatively easier to access certain public records.
2. **Denmark**: Denmark also has strong public access laws, allowing for access to various government records, though privacy protections are in place.
3. **Netherlands**: The Netherlands has a culture of transparency and public access, but GDPR protections are strictly enforced.
4. **Germany**: Germany has robust data protection laws, but it also has provisions for public access to certain information, though accessing personal data may be more restricted.
5. **Estonia**: Known for its digital governance, Estonia allows access to various public records, but personal data protections are still in place.
6. **United Kingdom** (prior to Brexit): The UK had a strong framework for public access to information, but GDPR-like protections were also in effect.
7. **Ireland**: Ireland has strong privacy protections, and while public access exists, it may be more challenging to access personal data compared to Nordic countries.
8. **France**: France has strict data protection laws, and while public access exists, accessing personal data may be more difficult.
9. **Spain**: Similar to France, Spain has strong privacy protections, making it harder to access personal data without consent.
10. **Italy**: Italy has robust data protection laws, and accessing personal data is generally more restricted.
11. **Austria**: Austria has strong privacy protections, and accessing personal data is typically more challenging.
12. **Belgium**: Belgium has strict data protection laws, making it harder to access personal data without consent.
13. **Portugal**: Portugal has strong privacy protections, and accessing personal data is generally more restricted.
14. **Czech Republic**: The Czech Republic has data protection laws that may limit access to personal data.
15. **Slovakia**: Similar to the Czech Republic, Slovakia has privacy protections that may restrict access to personal data.
16. **Hungary**: Hungary has data protection laws that may limit access to personal data.
17. **Poland**: Poland has strong data protection laws, making it harder to access personal data without consent.
18. **Romania**: Romania has privacy protections that may restrict access to personal data.
19. **Bulgaria**: Bulgaria has data protection laws that may limit access to personal data.
20. **Lithuania**: Lithuania has privacy protections that may restrict access to personal data.
21. **Latvia**: Latvia has data protection laws that may limit access to personal data.
22. **Slovenia**: Slovenia has strong privacy protections, making it harder to access personal data.
23. **Croatia**: Croatia has data protection laws that may limit access to personal data.
24. **Cyprus**: Cyprus has privacy protections that may restrict access to personal data.
25. **Malta**: Malta has strong data protection laws, making it harder to access personal data.
26. **Greece**: Greece has strict data protection laws, making it the most challenging to access personal data without consent.