The (im)possibility of personal and industrial (machine-generated) data to be subject to property rights

Abstract Discussions surrounding the possibility of expanding the legal regime of ownership to data have been ongoing for several decades. Proponents of recognizing the right of ownership to data motivate their position by the needs of the data economy and the need to protect the interests of data subjects. However, specific properties of data cause contradictions with the concept of property rights. This paper examines data in a system of related categories, such as information and knowledge, aiming to determine their correlation and answer the question of whether personal and industrial (machine-generated) data can be objects of ownership. The category of digital data is analysed; its specific features, which make it possible to equate them with a type of property, are determined. The paper reveals correlation between concepts of digital ownership and data ownership and answers the question of why there is no room for personal and industrial data in the ownership paradigm.