GDPR Isn’t The End
Written by Emma Flickinger
You might have gotten a few emails (or a few dozen) this week from various websites, services, and software announcing changes to their privacy policies. These sweeping changes are all thanks to legislation that’s designed to give consumers more power over what happens to their online data — the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which went into effect Friday.
So, can we finally stop worrying about what’s happening to our data and take a collective sigh of relief?
GDPR is a landmark for online consumer protection. It’s a huge legislative reform that applies to everyone who lives in Europe as well as companies who do business in Europe. GDPR was designed to standardize data privacy rules: it sets clear definitions for when and how companies need to ask for your data, and what constitutes an affirmative answer to that request. It also sets stricter standards for what companies need to do if there’s a data breach, and penalties for failure to comply.
Overall, GDPR enforces transparency and places a lot more responsibility on companies that handle personal data. These are good things — these regulations will help make sure that consumers know what’s happening to their data.
But regulation always lags behind technology. Laws are only introduced when a threat’s already made itself known — in this case, the misuse of personal data, and countless privacy violations. The damage is already done.
It’s tempting to trust that GDPR will fix everything, but the world of online privacy is too messy for a quick fix. Our privacy worries won’t be over by the end of the week. Not every company is going to comply with GDPR, and not every violation will be found. And as legal battles against privacy-violating firms are fought in the courtroom, new threats to privacy will emerge on online fronts.
Legal reforms are important, but laws alone can’t protect consumer data. The most effective solution to a technological problem is a technological solution: to give consumers the tools they need to protect themselves, and support them as they learn to regain control of their online privacy.
