Encoding and (re-)using data about or created by citizens to generate new value is a process referred to as datafication. Extracting data from and about citizens raises numerous human rights questions, particularly in the area of the right to private life. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has over the years developed and shaped the right to digital private life by outlining what type of collection, processing and retention of data about individuals is considered permissive – and what is not. Although the datafication process entails elements that currently lie outside the core ambit of the ECtHR, it has a longstanding and indeed heightened interest in defining and protecting what constitutes genuine human private life. In this regard, digital private life falls into a domain of matters which the ECtHR finds worthy of protection. By pointing out specific requirements in order to prevent the abuse of State power, the ECtHR is a mechanism that can be reckoned with when it comes to shielding European citizens from datafication.