A transport app stores precise disability status so staff can arrange boarding assistance. A product manager treats the field like any other preference checkbox. How should privacy counsel classify that data under the GDPR?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Think of disability status like a medical wristband on a passenger file—it is not a snack preference. When the app keeps precise health or disability details about a real rider, GDPR treats that as special-category personal data. Operational usefulness does not downgrade the sensitivity.
Full Explanation
Article 9 GDPR lists data concerning health among special categories of personal data. Precise disability status used for boarding assistance reveals health-related information about an identifiable individual and therefore attracts the special-category regime, not ordinary contact-data rules. Coding the field internally or calling it a preference does not remove that classification while the meaning remains linked to a natural person.