Vulnerability has traditionally been viewed through the lens of specific groups of people, such as ethnic minorities, children, the elderly, or people with disabilities. With the rise of digital media, our perceptions of vulnerable groups and individuals have been reshaped as new vulnerabilities and different vulnerable sub-groups of users, consumers, citizens, and data subjects emerge. Vulnerability and Data Protection Law depicts these problems and offers an investigation of the concept of data subjects and a reconceptualisation of the notion of vulnerability within the General Data Protection Regulation. The regulation offers a forward-facing set of tools that-though largely underexplored-are essential in rebalancing power asymmetries and mitigating induced vulnerabilities in the age of artificial intelligence. Considering the new risks and potentialities of the digital market, the new awareness about cognitive weaknesses, and the new philosophical sensitivity about the condition of human vulnerability, the author looks for a more general and layered definition of the data subject's vulnerability that goes beyond traditional labels. In doing so, he seeks to promote a 'vulnerability-aware' interpretation of the GDPR.

Gianclaudio Malgieri is an Associate Professor of Law & Technology at Leiden University (the Netherlands), where he conducts research at the eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies. He serves as the Co-Director of the Brussels Privacy Hub, as an Associate Editor of Computer Law and Security Review (Elsevier), and coordinates “VULNERA“, the International Observatory of Vulnerable People in Data Protection. Gianclaudio has authored over 60 publications, including articles in leading international academic journals and a monograph, “Vulnerability and Data Protection Law” (Oxford University Press, 2023). His works have been cited by, inter alia, top international newspapers (The New York Times, The Washington Post, Le Monde, Politico, La Tribune) and European and International Institutions