Critical points for the processing of personal data by the government: An empirical study in Brazil

The General Law for the Protection of Personal Data (LGPD), issued in Brazil in August 2018, establishes as one of the legal bases for the processing of personal data the execution of public policies by the State. A systematic review of the literature identified the existence of six critical points that represent challenges for public managers in the elaboration and implementation of policies that require the processing of personal data. The objective of this research is to establish the levels of criticality of the factors identified by the literature review, as well as to verify the existence of other critical points on which the literature has not yet advanced. To this end, a group of 11 specialists was selected to participate in the research that used the Delphi Method, a technique that consists of applying a set of questionnaires sequentially and individually, in order to establish a dialog between the participants and build a collective response. The results indicate a coherence between what was verified in the theory and the perception of the specialists. Another 10 critical points for the processing of personal data by the government were mentioned by the participants. In general, the main elements of tension identified addressed the lack of training of public officials and the sharing of personal data.