Disclosure

The act of making personal data available or accessible to another party—whether through sharing, selling, transferring, or otherwise communicating data to third parties, affiliates, service providers, or the public. Disclosure is a key aspect of data processing that triggers privacy obligations including transparency requirements, appropriate legal bases, and in some cases consent. Privacy laws require organizations to disclose (inform about) their disclosure practices—what categories of data are disclosed, to whom, for what purposes, and under what circumstances. Organizations should carefully track and document all disclosures, ensure appropriate agreements govern recipient obligations, implement controls preventing unauthorized disclosure, and provide transparency about disclosure practices in privacy notices. Note the dual meaning: disclosure as information sharing (the act) and disclosure as transparency (telling people about it). Both are essential to privacy compliance.