What is user data?
Reviewed by Anthon Wansland
Head of Product & Co-Founder
Serus is a privacy company with paid tools to find and remove your personal data. This page is free and based on official sources.
Definition
User data is information a person provides or generates while using a website, app or service, such as an account name, email address, activity history and settings. When it identifies someone, it counts as personal data.
- Category
- Data
- Also called
- customer data, user information
- Last updated
Sources checked: csrc.nist.gov
Last verified against the official page:
User data is a broad label. It covers whatever a company holds about the people using its product: what you typed into a sign-up form, what you did afterwards and what the service worked out about you along the way.
Typical examples:
- Details you give: name, email, phone number, date of birth, payment details.
- Activity: pages viewed, searches, purchases, messages, files you upload.
- Technical data: device type, IP address, approximate location, cookies.
When user data is personal data
Not all user data identifies you, but most of it can. NIST defines personal data as information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, either alone or combined with other information linked to that person. A related definition, drawn from ISO, is any information relating to an identified or identifiable person. A username with no name attached may seem harmless, yet paired with an email and an IP address it points at one person.
Why it matters
Companies use user data to run the service, but also to profile you, target ads and sometimes sell or share it. Once it leaves the company it ends up with data brokers, who combine it with public records into profiles of you. It also becomes a target: when a company is breached, its user data is what leaks.
User data vs. related terms
- Personal data is the legal and technical term for data that identifies a person. User data is a business term, and only the identifying part is personal data.
- First-party data is data a company collects directly from its own users, which is a subset of user data.
How to protect yourself
- 1
Give less at sign-up
Skip optional fields, use an email alias for new accounts and don't hand over a phone number unless the service needs it.
- 2
Check what an account stores
Most large services let you download your data and delete your account. Look in the privacy or account settings and use both.
- 3
Turn off tracking you don't need
Review app permissions for location, contacts and microphone, and switch off ad personalization in your account settings.
- 4
Use a unique password and two-step verification
One leaked password shouldn't unlock your other accounts. A password manager makes this easy.
- 5
Remove the copies you can't reach
Serus finds where your personal details are listed on data brokers and people-search sites and sends the removal requests for you. It keeps watching, because listings can come back.
See it in action
See where your personal data is exposed
Serus finds it on data brokers and people-search sites and removes it.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between user data and personal data?
User data is whatever a service holds about its users. Personal data is the part that relates to an identified or identifiable person, such as a name, email or IP address. Much user data is personal data, but aggregated and anonymised statistics may not be.
What counts as user data?
Account details, activity history, content you upload, purchase records, device information and location data. If a company records it because you used its product, it is user data.
Can I ask a company to delete my user data?
In many places you can. Laws such as the GDPR and the CCPA give people rights to access and delete data held about them, with exceptions. Look for a privacy request form or an email address in the company's privacy policy.
Sources
- personal data - Glossary · csrc.nist.gov
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