4 Reasons Why You Should Care About European Data Privacy Legislation
It affects every aspect of your experience on the internet.
I confess, I think European data privacy legislation is really cool. Everyone’s a nerd about something, and this is one of the things I know far more about than just about everyone I know.
To most people, and certainly most Americans, European data privacy legislation seems esoteric and dull.
In this article, I’m going to give you 4 good reasons why you should care. Even if you’re American.
1. It affects every aspect of your life.
You’re constantly using the internet, and that means that data is constantly getting collected about you.
Companies are tracking every search you do on Google, every trip you take to a new place, and even every click on your phone. It’s because data is very valuable.
European data privacy rules attempt to give people a choice about how that data is collected and what happens to it. In most cases, you’re paying for your “free” app with your data. Usually, the company is going to use your data to better advertise to you and others. EU privacy regulation tries to give users a choice other than “don’t use the app”.
2. Everyone else has it.
Everyone watches American movies, and everyone regulates data like Europe.
40 years ago, the United States and Europe had a choice to make. Do we regulate companies or do we let them regulate themselves?
The United States figured that letting companies set their own terms in the form of a long legal document and making sure their users clicked a button saying that they read it would be good enough, and European regulators… disagreed, to say the least.
Europe assumed that people might want some control over the digital records of their existence. Crazy thought, I know. Instead of letting companies go wild, Europe gradually built up a set of rules regulating how companies could collect data, what they could do with it, and how long they could hold it. It has culminated recently in the General European Privacy Directive (GDPR), which went into effect in 2018.
This approach has proved more popular with the world than the legalese, wild-west approach of the United States. Many countries, from South Africa to the Philippines to our friendly neighbor to the north (Canada) have adopted EU-style privacy laws.
3. 12 percent of the United States is already regulated by (weak) EU-style privacy legislation.
That’s right, twelve percent. How, you ask?
The state of California, which is home to just under 12% of the population of United States, passed a piece of EU-style data privacy legislation that came into January 1, 2020 (at least one good thing happened this year). The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is significantly weaker than the current legislation in effect in the European Union, but it’s a strong step in the right direction. This means that even if you road trip to LA from Vegas, your internet usage is more protected and you don’t even have to cross an international border.
4. It impacts massive technology companies, including ones based in the United States.
Not to state the obvious, but Silicon Valley is in California. Silicon Valley is home to Google, Facebook, Uber, and many, many other tech companies.
Since these tech companies have to comply with European-style privacy legislation in their home state now, as well as abroad, you can bet that it’s indirectly affecting the way you interact with technology companies, too.
Why? Tech companies don’t like doing the same thing different ways, especially if the product is otherwise virtually identical across the world.
Did you know that you can download your personal data from Google? Or that you can opt out of facial recognition on Facebook? Don’t thank Congress, or god forbid, the magnanimousness of private companies for that. Thank European privacy regulation.
Conclusion
In short, EU privacy regulation matters. A lot. It affects the way the whole world interact with the internet, and even the laws in our country.
Wanna know more? I’m probably going to be writing more articles about this, so stay tuned.
Otherwise, reach out me. I’ll happily talk your ear off.
