This study, offers a view on how is the current situation related to a legal framework in the Republic of Guatemala to data protection. The country currently does not have a legislation that can provide accurate protection to their citizens related to data protection and personal information. By analysis the current legislation and also the rulings of the Constitutional Court are possible to get to the conclusion that there is a protection of some sort in the country in case of a data protection violation or misuse. However, it was also established that this protection is not the ideal one, part of the protection is provided by the criminal law and the other one is provided as a human right. But at least it can be established that some legal framework exist that can give some protection to the Guatemalan citizen even if is not the ideal kind of protection. This will be an issue as long as there is not a formal legal instrument that addresses data protection.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT I
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW 3
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 6
1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 6
2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 6
3. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH 8
4. METHODOLOGY 9
CHAPTER IV. INFORMATION IN A TECHNOLOGICAL ERA 11
1. IMPORTANCE OF THE INFORMATION 11
2. CLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION WITHIN DATA 14
3. PERSONAL INFORMATION 21
CHAPTER V: DATA FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES 23
1. DATA AS A PROPERTY RIGHT 23
2. DATA AS AN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT 28
CHAPTER VI. THE GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION: A REFERENCE FOR DATA PROTECTION 33
1. GDPR BACKGROUND 33
2. THE SCOPE OF THE GDPR 35
3. PRINCIPLES OF THE GDPR 37
4. RIGHTS OF THE DATA SUBJECTS 40
5. ACCOUNTABILITY 43
CHAPTER VII. GUATEMALAN´S LEGAL BACKGROUND IN DATA PROTECTION 46
1. THE ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT NUMBER 57-2008 46
2. GUATEMALAN LAW PROPOSAL FOR: PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION ACT NUMBER 4090 53
CHAPTER VIII: LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR DATA PROTECTION IN GUATEMALA 58
1. CONSENT IN THE APIA AS A WAY TO PROTECT DATA, ESPECIALLY FOR PERSONAL INFORMATION 58
2. THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT IN GUATEMALA AS A WAY OF DATA PROTECTION 63
3. GUATEMALAN LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND THE GDPR 72
CHAPTER IX: CONCLUSIONS 75
BIBLIOGRPHY 78

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