Everything you need to know about GDPR

Yes, you have to know about GDPR at least a little bit.

Anton Cherkasov
The Startup
4 min readAug 13, 2018

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From Unsplash

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a rule passed by the European Union in 2016, setting new rules for how companies manage and share personal data. In theory, the GDPR only applies to EU citizens’ data, but the global nature of the internet means that nearly every online service is affected, and the regulation has already resulted in significant changes for US users as companies scramble to adapt.

Highlights:

  • The GDPR sets a higher bar for obtaining personal data than we’ve ever seen on the internet before. By default, any time a company collects personal data on an EU citizen, it will need explicit and informed consent from that person. Users also need a way to revoke that consent, and they can request all the data a company has from them as a way to verify that consent.
  • Second, the GDPR’s penalties are severe enough to get the entire industry’s attention. Maximum fines per violation are set at 4 percent of a company’s global turnover (or $20M, whichever is larger).

What changed?

The most visible and immediate changes were seen in Terms of Service and other warnings. The GDPR’s idea of consent requires a lot more than previous regulations, which means companies ask permission to collect your data a lot more often.

There are also more opportunities to download all the data a company has on you, something companies are already starting to roll out. That helps in two ways: it lets you check what companies are collecting, and it could help unwind platform dominance by letting you transfer data between networks. If you want a way to export your Facebook messages to Ello, the new portability requirements will ensure there’s a way to do it.

Will it really help?

It’s too early to say. We know roughly what compliance looks like, but we still don’t know what enforcement will look like or how aggressive the EU regulators will be. The simplest takeaway is that breaches will get a lot more costly, and that cost will be spread a lot further through the network. It will get more expensive to share user data, and sites will probably try to make do with fewer partners, which would certainly be a win from a privacy perspective. Regulations like this tend to hit small companies the hardest, so the GDPR might also tip the scales even further toward big players like Google and Facebook, even as the overall pool of data shrinks.

Time for Blockchain Data Protocol

Aworker is a multi-chain verified data protocol for applications creation where people control their information. We connect blockchain technology to the real world by providing decentralized reputation network for the business and people. This protocol makes it easy to create and manage applications based on verified data and reputation score. People can control their information in one place and capitalize it. Aworker blockchain framework works with public blockchains and has the power to customize it for different applications.

We use data storage in public blockchains, depending on the applications’ requirements, in order to keep information in accordance with the laws of different countries. With the use of several blockchains, we can store data locally in certain countries and guarantee information protection.

Aworker is a multi-chain solution that consists of a data protocol for third-party applications, a people identification system, data exchange, P2P job marketplace, a verification system, payments, and reputation. Altogether, these features form a multifunctional infrastructure for the creation of a unified Reputation system.

To find out more about the Aworker project visit official Aworker website, Telegram channel or Twitter page.

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