Whose data is it, anyway? Deliberating data ownership during corporate restructuring

Article by Manas Tripathi and Ashish Bhasin: “Corporate restructuring, such as mergers, acquisitions, and bankruptcy, now raises complex data-ownership challenges for regulators, especially when activities cross borders and fall under multiple legal authorities. As organizations become more digital, controlling user data has become a core issue during restructuring. Policymakers must protect citizens’ data, evaluate the value of data assets, and ensure that competition rules are followed throughout the restructuring process. Although countries have strengthened rights such as the right to know and the right to be forgotten, many firms still exploit legal gaps to access or repurpose user data during restructuring. This article examines how organizations use these loopholes to shift or expand data ownership, often bypassing regulatory protections. Using a detailed case study, we uncover the blind spots in current oversight. To address these issues, we introduce the Data Ownership Governance for Corporate Restructuring (DOGCR) framework. The framework promotes accountability and offers a structured approach for managing data ownership transitions before, during, and after corporate restructuring…(More)”.