SHOULD THE EU GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION BECOME THE GLOBAL PRIVACY STANDARD? WHAT DOES THE GDPR MEAN FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

Do we always know when companies collect personal information about us? When we choose to provide personal information, do we know how it will be used and stored? Often we do not. The scale of the problem of improper data collection was illustrated by recent revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a research and marketing firm, likely improperly gained access to the personal data of approx. 87 million Facebook users globally. A Cambridge AnalyticaApp collected information not just about App users, but also about the users’ friends, without their knowledge or consent.

Currently our personal information protection depends on where we reside, as different countries have different privacy and data protection laws. When we deal with an international company, it is not necessarily clear which laws apply. Companies can treat personal information differently, depending where it was collected or where the individual lives.

On 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force, to update and harmonise legislation across the 28 members of the European Union (EU). An alliance of United States and European consumer and privacy rights groups have asked Facebook to make the EU GDPR data protection framework the “baseline standard for all Facebook services…in all jurisdictions for all users.” Read more

Ursula Hogben - Dynamic Business - 28 May 2018