As people around the globe, are busy talking about Avengers: Infinity War, tech giants and even small-scale online businesses are worried about updating their privacy policy. It is the fear of GDPR implementation deadline approaching in May, which is pressurizing online business owners to change the way they deal with users’ data.
So, what is GDPR? Why its implementation is necessary and why its significance has created a hype which is strong enough to push back the popularity of top technology trends of 2018.
What is GDPR All About?
GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation is an EU attempt to make organization update their user-data protection policy and align it with the users’ interests. The regulation which is mandatory for every business operating within EU and outside the EU, if it impacts the citizens from EEA region, will make it compulsory for companies to take users permission for controlling and processing their data.
Briefly, GDPR is a way to give people more control over their data and give them right to ask for their personal information that organizations have and puts a hefty penalty on organizations that manipulate users’ data without authorization from the concerned entity.
EU was making efforts to bring out a regulation like GDPR from last four years. But, it is going to be implemented at the time when citizens around the world are more concerned about users’ data breach through digital platforms. The recent Cambridge Analytica scandal is the one example of how companies are manipulating personal information of social media users without their knowledge.
What Does GDPR Imply
Broadly, organizations have to do two main things for implementation of GDPR.
- They have to seek the users’ consent for controlling and processing their personal information. And, they also have to share the purpose of doing so. Further, the organization will also have to delete the users’ data once its purpose is over.
- Entities will be bound to reveal all the information they know about users upon their request.
The striking feature of the GDPR is its mechanism for asking the users’ consent for controlling and processing the information. Organizations that keep a record of users’ data have to ensure taking their permission actively. They are not allowed to exploit old methods that come up with pre-ticked opt-out boxes; instead, they have to use a procedure that actively involves users.
Which Businesses Should Worry About GDPR
All those businesses that control (gather, collect, utilize) and process (use for any purpose) users data, have to make changes in privacy policy according to GDPR. These organizations can be NGOs, for profit and not for profit organizations. Usually, these are the IT firms that collect and utilize the users’ data for generating insights about customer behavior, for any purpose. Therefore, such firms which deal with users data have to mainly review their privacy policy and update it according to GDPR, before the deadline which is May 25, approaches.
Tech giants like Google, Twitter, and other such companies have already notified their customers about changes they have made in the privacy policy.
 is approaching on May 27. The regulation will alter the way business entities deal with the users' data and process it for the third parties.){kind=link}