Countdown to GDPR!
What Will the Digital Media World Look Like 24 Hours from Now?
On May 25th, 2018, the GDPR, EU privacy regulation that seeks to protect the rights of employees and consumers goes into effect.
The bill states that any online company gathering and storing its users’ personal information must make the data accessible for free, in a portable, electronic format, while also gaining the user’s consent for its use.
Decried by many online companies as a disaster of Europe’s digital advertising economy and cheered by data privacy advocates as a fresh start for a broken system, we could be looking at a very different Adtech landscape, just in a couple of days from now.
What will happen on May 25th?
The simple answer is that data subjects will have a say in the use of their personal information for the first time.
Users will be able to deny their consent to advertisers with whom they do not wish to share their data, security measures will be tightened, and new protocols put in place to ensure their privacy. In addition, they will be able to request access to all the information being gathered on their online activities.
The power dynamic is about to shift and the digital giants that collect, use and sell user data will no longer be able to show a reckless disregard for the privacy and security of their users’ information. Non-compliant businesses will be fined as much as 4% of their global revenue for the previous year, or €20 million, whichever is greater.
Does It Go Far Enough?
The GDPR goes a long way to redressing the balance between users, advertisers and publishers. However, there is still a long way to go.
For starters, big companies will not be in such a hurry to give up the reins of power. This is evidenced by the response of online giants like Facebook, which have taken measures to mitigate the impact of the GDPR on their businesses. Up to now, Facebook’s African, Latin American Australian and Asian users have been under the jurisdiction of its EU headquarters in Ireland. Now all 1.5 billion of them are being transferred to be under the far more lenient terms of service applied to the social network’s US offices. This is a move that has also been made by LinkedIn among others, looking to lessen the sphere of influence of the law.
To break the hold of these companies and protect users, other jurisdictions need to get on board. User rights are a global issue and until such legislation is written and put into effect world-over, user privacy is still vulnerable.
Another area with room for improvement is the continued inequity of the data marketplace. While users drive the Adtech economy, they are still not beneficiaries, something the new law does not address.
In addition, the user must actively contact each individual company gathering their data to get a picture of their online status as a data subject and this could be time consuming and confusing.
Moreover, while the GDPR makes great strides, there is room for greater transparency in terms of how data is being used and shared and more could be done to secure user data, which so long as it is being gathered and stored can still be compromised.
Who Will Pick Up the Baton?
Someone will need to pick up where regulation left off. The baton is being handed on to independent institutions that offer an alternative to the status quo and leverage the power of the GDPR to effect lasting change.
One non-profit, the Liberdy Data Foundation, believes you can do well and do good. In compliance with the GDPR, the Data Foundation uses blockchain technology to enable user data to be traded transparently, safely and fairly. It guarantees user privacy and creates more democratic ad marketplace, by paying users for the use of their data, and offering all advertisers access to the same permission based, accurate first-hand data.
The Foundation gains user consent and then encrypts and anonymizes the information. At this point the user can decide which pieces of data they wish to share and to whom they wish to sell it.
Additionally, the Liberdy Data Foundation is based on blockchain technology, hence information is decentralized or is dispersed across the network and not held in a single location which could be compromised. The Foundation also offers greater transparency, since every transaction is recorded on a public ledger.
Privacy is key and in addition to being able control the sale of their de-personalized data, and profit from it, users can also benefit from an anonymous single sign on for publisher sites. The user receives premium services and subscriptions in return for consent for the use of their data and publishers gain access to a whole new audience of potential users.
Advertisers also benefit from this new data ecosystem. They gain access to a deeper pool of verified, reliable data, which was only previously available from the walled gardens of Google and Facebook and they can also take advantage of new commercial partnerships.
None of this would be possible without the GDPR and the potential benefits for all participants in a democratized data economy cannot be overstated.
What About the Long-term Impact of the GDPR?
Change will be incremental, as the ripple effects are felt in other jurisdictions. Will the GDPR pave the way for US federal privacy laws? Hopefully yes, with a domino effect that is felt around the world. But we can’t expect the entire industry to suddenly change on Friday. Rome wasn’t built in a day and our deeply flawed online data marketplace won’t be cleaned up overnight.
Companies like Liberdy will be able to harness the GDPR to present viable alternatives that offer financial incentives for users to provide their consent, take the headache out of regulation-compliant secure data storage and provide verified, accurate, permission-based data to advertisers that is more precise than ever before.
Digital businesses will eventually come to the realization that in the long term, protecting user privacy is not just good for the customer, but good for business too.
To join the revolution got to Liberdy.io or join our communities: Liberdy.io, Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and get the latest updates or email us at info@liberdy.io
