The term ‘informational self-determination’ was coined by the Federal Constitutional Court in the so-called census judgement of 15 December 1983, thereby concretising the protection of privacy with regard to personal data and granting individuals the right to determine their personal data. The right to informational self-determination is now generally recognised.
According to the prevailing view, the right to informational self-determination in connection with predictive tests includes, on the one hand, a right to knowledge - which, however, must not be understood in the sense of a right to test performance, but as a right to the disclosure of information. On the other hand, the right to informational self-determination also establishes a right not to know. Accordingly, Section 9 para. 2 no. 5 stipulates that the information must include a reference to the data subject's right not to know, including the right not to take note of the test result or parts thereof.

In its 2017 Opinion, the German Ethics Council formulated the guiding principle of ‘data sovereignty as the organisation of informational freedom’. The aspect of freedom is intended to protect the ‘interactive development of personality while preserving privacy in a networked world’ (252). ‘Data sovereignty’ should arise from a successful balancing of the protection of this privacy on the one hand and respect for solidarity and justice as central social principles on the other.