The digital world occupying large swathes of individuals’ lives in a trend that shows no signs of abating any time soon, the perennial question in human rights protection has been brought once again, forcefully, to the fore: do we need new human rights to deal with new societal and technological developments? Or are the ones already in place enough, complemented by recourse to the general principles of human rights, specifically to that of proportionality? Making use of the GDPR as a case-study in this regard, this paper elaborates upon the two, foreseeable, answers to this question. The first, within a digital constitutionalism context, suggests the introduction of new rights that will be suitable to protect individuals within the digital world. The second suggests that no new rights are necessary and that recourse should be made to the principle of proportionality instead. The choice by policy-makers between these two options will decide the future for the protection of individual rights in Europe.
Keywords: GDPR, digital constitutionalism, principle of proportionality