Records · licensing · privacy
Data licensing glossary
Plain-English meanings for the words used when discussing company records, licensing and privacy.
Via Nordic MarTech, an independent referrer. We may receive a referral fee; you pay nothing.
Legal meanings depend on the country and context. UK GDPR entries describe UK law; these explanations are not legal advice or a buyer’s contract.
External source definitions checked 15 November 2026. Internal links provide this guide’s context, not independent legal authority.
A
- Access control
- Rules and mechanisms that allow or deny access to information or systems.
- Source: NIST — Access control (opens in a new tab)
- Access rights
- Information about who may access a record, or about its security restrictions.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
B
- Backup
- A copy of files or programs kept to help recover them if needed.
- Source: NIST — Backup (opens in a new tab)
- Biometric data
- Under UK GDPR, personal data from specific technical processing of physical, physiological or behavioural features that allows or confirms unique identification.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
C
- Collection frequency
- How often new items are added to a collection.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Collection method
- The method used to add items to a collection.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Collection policy
- The policy governing the addition of items to a collection.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Consent
- Under UK GDPR, a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of agreement, expressed through a statement or clear positive action.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Contributor
- A person or organisation that contributed to a resource.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Controller
- Under UK GDPR, the person or organisation that decides why and how personal data is processed.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Copyright
- Rights creators have over literary and artistic works. Whether a particular business record qualifies depends on the applicable law.
- Source: WIPO — Copyright (opens in a new tab)
- Coverage
- The topic’s location or period, or the jurisdiction under which a resource is relevant.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Creator
- The person or organisation responsible for making a resource.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
D
- Data brokerage
- Arranging a transaction involving data. A broker may help arrange a licence; the label alone does not establish its legal duties.
- Source: Licensing vs brokerage
- Data licensing
- Permission to use company records on agreed terms. In this guide, it concerns a written agreement with the buyer, not a sale of the company.
- Source: Data licensing guide
- Data minimisation
- The UK GDPR principle that personal data should be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 5 (opens in a new tab)
- Data protection impact assessment
- Under UK GDPR Article 35, an assessment of the effect of proposed processing on personal-data protection, required where processing is likely to create a high risk.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 35 (opens in a new tab)
- Data subject
- Under UK GDPR, the person whom personal data is about.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- De-identification
- A general term for removing the association between identifying data and a person. The method and context matter; the label alone does not establish anonymity.
- Source: NIST — De-identification (opens in a new tab)
- Description
- An account of what a resource contains.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
E
- Economic rights
- Copyright rights that allow a rights holder to authorise or prevent certain uses of a work, subject to applicable law.
- Source: WIPO — Copyright (opens in a new tab)
- Encryption
- Changing readable information into an encoded form using a cryptographic method.
- Source: NIST — Encryption (opens in a new tab)
F
- File format
- The file type, physical medium or dimensions of a resource.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Filing system
- Under UK GDPR, an organised set of personal data that can be accessed using specific criteria.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
G
- Genetic data
- Under UK GDPR, personal data about inherited or acquired genetic characteristics that gives unique information about a person’s physiology or health.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
H
- Health data
- Under UK GDPR, personal data about physical or mental health, including healthcare services, that reveals a person’s health status.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
I
- Identifier
- A reference that distinguishes a resource within a particular context.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Independent referrer
- In this guide, someone who introduces a company to a buyer without buying, receiving, valuing or selling its records.
- Source: Licensing vs brokerage
L
- Lawful basis
- A legal ground for processing personal data under UK GDPR Article 6. Choosing a ground does not remove other applicable obligations.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 6 (opens in a new tab)
- Licence
- A legal document giving permission to do something with a resource. The document sets the permitted use.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
M
- Metadata
- Information describing other data, such as a file’s format or contents.
- Source: NIST — Metadata (opens in a new tab)
- Moral rights
- Copyright-related rights protecting a creator’s non-economic interests, such as attribution; their scope depends on the applicable law.
- Source: WIPO — Copyright (opens in a new tab)
P
- Part of a record
- A related resource included within another resource, physically or logically.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Personal data
- Under UK GDPR, information about a person who is identified or can be identified, directly or indirectly.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Personal data breach
- Under UK GDPR, a security breach leading to accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to personal data.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Processing
- Under UK GDPR, anything done with personal data, including collecting, storing, reading, sharing or deleting it.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Processor
- Under UK GDPR, a person or organisation that processes personal data on behalf of a controller.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Profiling
- Under UK GDPR, automated use of personal data to assess aspects of a person, such as behaviour or work performance.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Provenance
- A history of changes in a record’s ownership or custody that matters to its authenticity and interpretation.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Pseudonymisation
- Under UK GDPR, changing personal data so it cannot be linked to a person without extra information kept separately. It is not the same as making data anonymous.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Publisher
- The person or organisation responsible for making a resource available.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Purpose limitation
- The UK GDPR principle that personal data is collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further used incompatibly, subject to its stated exceptions.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 5 (opens in a new tab)
R
- Recipient
- Under UK GDPR, someone to whom personal data is disclosed, subject to the exceptions in the statutory definition.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Restriction of processing
- Under UK GDPR, marking stored personal data so its future use is limited.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Rights holder
- A person or organisation that owns or manages rights over a record or resource.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Rights information
- Information about rights held in or over a resource.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
S
- Source
- A related resource from which the record being described was derived.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
- Special category data
- Personal data covered by UK GDPR Article 9, including health, certain biometric data, ethnicity and political or religious beliefs; additional conditions apply.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 9 (opens in a new tab)
- Storage limitation
- The UK GDPR principle that identifying personal data is kept no longer than necessary, subject to its stated exceptions.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 5 (opens in a new tab)
T
- Third party
- Under UK GDPR, someone other than the data subject, controller, processor or people authorised to process the data under their direct authority.
- Source: UK GDPR — Article 4 (opens in a new tab)
- Trade secret
- Confidential information that has commercial value because it is secret and is subject to reasonable steps to keep it secret; legal protection varies by country.
- Source: WIPO — Trade secrets (opens in a new tab)
V
- Version
- A related edition, version or adaptation of a resource.
- Source: DCMI — Metadata Terms (opens in a new tab)
W
- Written offer
- A buyer’s proposed terms in writing. A published range or readiness result is not a written offer.
- Source: How partners set terms