Faux Vintage photo of a real vintage digital camera
The NYT/Reuters reports about the GDPR:
New European privacy regulations went into effect on Friday that will force companies to be more attentive to how they handle customer data.
The ramifications were visible from day one, with major U.S.-media outlets including the LA Times and Chicago Tribune were forced to shutter their websites in parts of Europe.
People in the bloc have been bombarded with dozens of emails asking for their consent to keep processing their data, and a privacy activist wasted no time in taking action against U.S. tech giants for allegedly acting illegally by forcing users to accept intrusive terms of service or lose access.
“You have to have a ‘yes or no’ option,” Austrian Max Schrems said before filing complaints in European jurisdictions. “A lot of these companies now force you to consent to the new privacy policy, which is totally against the law.”
(click here to continue reading EU Privacy Law Enters Into Force, Activist Takes Aim – The New York Times.)
Amazing really the number of these emails I’ve received. Several are worded in such a way that I did not accept their terms, and assume my account will become dormant. If it was a company I cared to still do business with, I might look a little deeper, but mostly I just shrug and delete.
We first heard about GDPR late last year and only wish the US took consumer privacy as seriously as the EU.
Dreaming Has A Low
From December, 2017:
Almost a fifth of companies in the marketing and advertising sector would go out of business if they were to be hit by a fine for non-compliance of the new GDPR legislation.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in less than one year and covers everything from a consumer’s ‘right to be forgotten’ to data breach notification and accountability. At the heart of the reform in how companies must handle customer data is a fine, standing at €20m or 4% of an company’s global revenue, if they are found to be falling foul.
But, in a survey of 187 marketing and advertising companies conducted by YouGov on behalf of law firm Irwin Mitchel, 70% said they wouldn’t be certain of their ability to detect a data breach. Meanwhile, just 37% said they would be equipped to deal with it in the required timescale of three days.
(click here to continue reading 17% of marketing and advertising agencies would go under if hit with a GDPR fine | The Drum.)
Extraordinary Measures
A privacy regulation with teeth:
With 200-plus pages of regulation set to come into force in May 2018, it formalizes concepts like the “right to be forgotten,” data breach accountability, data portability and more — and is arguably the biggest disruption in the digital space in recent years.
Potential fines
Simply put, the regulations are being put into place to give individual more rights to their data, but brands and marketers need to get on board beforehand in order to avoid hefty potential fines – up to $24m, or 4% of annual turnover (whichever is the greater sum). Some of the requirements include:
- Requiring consent for data processing
- Anonymizing collected data to protect privacy
- Providing data breach notifications
- Safely handling the transfer of data across borders
- Requiring certain companies to have a data protection officer to oversee GDPR compliance
(click here to continue reading What does the EU’s privacy reform mean for US marketers? And what should you do now? | The Drum.)