Articles about GDPR

Enforcement of the GDPR Regulation will begin this May 25. Are you ready? If not, Microsoft offers some information-protection solutions to help your organization identify, classify, and protect your data. The tools track your adherence to the regulations, ensure you’re able to identify sensitive data, and can prevent that data from escaping your organization via email, etc.

While this article focuses on GDPR policy management, the info also applies to other regulations (e.g. HIPAA).

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With GDPR implementation just over a week away, a report from US law firm Attorney.IO suggests that rights under the legislation may be available to others besides EU citizens.

Based on the answers 129 law professors gave to questions on the GDPR, it points out that GDPR doesn't just apply to citizens of an EU country. It applies to anyone who at any time set foot in an EU country and transmitted their data to a covered internet company.

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When GDPR comes into force next week, organizations will have 72 hours to report security breaches to a regulator once they become aware of them.

Ahead of the new legislation, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has released details of the latest data security trends. Reported incidents in the final quarter of 2017 showed a 17 percent increase over the previous quarter, perhaps indicating that companies are taking a more proactive approach to reporting as GDPR approaches.

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There's now just two weeks until the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law comes into force across Europe. Technology companies have been scrabbling to update their privacy policies in order to comply, and today Google reveals the steps it has taken to become compliant.

In addition to this, the company has also published its updated privacy policy. In keeping with GDPR, this time around the terms are presented in a much more accessible and transparent form.

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GDPR comes into force on May 25th and will have an effect on all companies that collect user data even if they are outside the EU.

Independent identity research and strategy company One World Identity has produced a report that aims to serve as a definitive primer on what companies need to do to comply, and help them turn that compliance into a competitive edge.

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With GDPR implementation now only weeks away many businesses are still not fully prepared for the impact of the new legislation.

We spoke to Matt Klassen VP of cloud marketing at IT service management specialist Cherwell Software to find out how managed services can help companies to comply with GDPR by the may 25th deadline and to manage the additional workload it's likely to create.

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The new batch of privacy related legislations that's due to roll out across Europe later this month has claimed another victim -- Unroll.Me.

The email management service, which claims to help users "clean up your inbox", has announced that it is incompatible with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and will therefore close down in the EU on May 23. If you live in the EU, Unroll.Me will delete your account and you'll no longer be able to use the service.

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For almost a decade, most of us using Facebook have trusted it with our personal data. We shared pictures, locations of fun places we visited, friends --old and new -- with whom we connected, 'liked' activities, and much more.

And we did this not knowing our personal information was being used in ways beyond anyone's comprehension. As we watch the Facebook story unfold, we may wonder whether this crisis could have been avoided had personal data privacy and governance been better handled. Such initiatives could be complex and expensive for any company, but is it fair to say there are no shortcuts to this approach? How prepared is any company that relies on personal data?

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A few weeks ago we spoke to ThinkMarble about the impending arrival of GDPR and the company's virtual data protection office service.

As the May 25th deadline draws closer, the company has released some research data that shows almost three-quarters of UK businesses are unaware of the lawful basis for processing data and a quarter still don't know, or are unsure of, where the personal data they are responsible for is currently held.

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A new study from IT solutions provider US Signal reveals that businesses are seeing a greater number of security challenges.

The survey of security experts from a cross-section of organizations also shows 40 percent of respondents experienced at least one security incident in the last year, and 13 percent didn't know if they had.

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With new privacy laws due to roll out around Europe next month, WhatsApp has increase its minimum age from 13 to 16.

The Facebook-owned messaging tool has made the change in order to comply with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) which comes into force on May 25. To continue to use WhatsApp, users must now confirm that they are at least 16 years old and agree to the privacy policy and terms of services of the newly-created WhatsApp Ireland Limited.

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Here’s my predictions for what will happen in a world where GDPR is 'live' -- out in the wild so to speak. The EU’s mythical caged dragon of GDPR is set loose to wreak havoc upon mere mortal humans and their humble businesses. Can you see what I’m doing here? A movie magnate was once purported to have said  "I want a movie that starts with an earthquake and the builds up to a climax." I’m doing that sort of thing.

So, what will happen on May 25th? The honest answer I suspect, is not much. A damp squib, by all accounts. Darn. Not much excitement after the earthquake after all. A bit like when no one was affected at all when the clocks tipped over midnight and the world braced itself for the Y2K global disaster. That was very different though, and once it was over, it was over. Not so with GDPR, it will rumble-on for many years. So what can we expect to see?

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A couple of weeks ago, Instagram said that it was working on a tool that would enable users to download everything from their accounts. Now the tool has been launched ahead of the roll out of GDPR in Europe.

There has been no fanfare for the data download tool, but it's available for everyone to use. It gives people the opportunity to download "photos, comments, profile information and more" which is ideal for anyone looking to either backup their data, or who is thinking about moving to a rival service.

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I began writing the print version of this rag in September, 1987. Ronald Reagan was President, almost nobody carried a mobile phone, Bill Gates was worth $1.25 billion, and there was no Internet in the sense we know it today because Al Gore had yet to "invent" it. My point here is that a lot can change in 30+ years and one such change that is my main topic is that, thanks to the GDPR, the Internet is no longer American. We’ve lost control. It’s permanent and probably for the best.

Before readers start attacking, let’s first deal with the issue of Al Gore and the Internet. What Gore actually said to Wolf Blitzer on CNN in March, 1999 was "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." And he did. In 1986-1991 Gore sponsored various bills to both expand and speed-up what had been the ARPAnet and allow commercial activity on the network.

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Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the spotlight of privacy has been firmly on Facebook. The social network has made numerous promises about offering greater privacy controls to users, and after fears that Europe would end up with greater controls because of GDPR, Facebook then revealed similar tools will be rolled out around the world.

Just a few days ago, the company gave a little more information about these new privacy controls, boasting that it will soon be "offering new privacy protections to everyone, no matter where you live". Sounds great. But it's not -- strictly speaking -- true. And Facebook is being very sneaky once again.

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