General Data Protection Regulation
With the ongoing growth of web-based services and offensive data threats, the digital/IT industry will be under the influence of a power vacuum. With the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), most global tech giants, e.g., Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon, are finding it necessary to restructure their privacy policies and procedures enable their services in a GDPR-compliant manner. Following GDPR compliances has become obligatory, at least in the regions where the law has been implemented – the European Union (EU) countries. However, the law’s underlying rules and regulations are making an impact on the global IT world.
What is the GDPR?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new privacy law that has been implemented in all European Union countries enabling IT companies to comply with the new privacy rules and policies. The requirement that came into effect on May 25, 2018, is meant to encourage data safety, minimizing privacy, and security concerns. The law has extended eight rights to all citizens of EU countries. All IT companies offering services in the region are required to be cautious about all the extended laws brought into effect through GDPR.
From the right of access to the right to rectification, erasure, restrict processing, data portability, object and from the right to be informed to the rights about automated decision making and profiling, netizens of the EU countries are now armed with several security weapons that they can use to secure their online data. However, do you know how much GDPR’s legal rules imposed on the IT companies will make an impact on the global digital world?
GDPR and the global tech industry
The regulations implemented by the GDPR on the digital world or on the IT industry will influence how the business in the tech industry operates. It might be shocking but true that over 2.5 QB (Quintillion Bytes) of data is produced and processed every day in the digital world on a global scale. The matter of fact here is that most of the data produced in the digital world are personal in nature. In relation to the safety and security of such massive data produced, GDPR is reported to be an essential regulation. Provided its significance and consequences for not being in GDPR-compliance, potentially 4 % of the global revenue or €20 million, whichever is higher will be obligatory to be paid as penalty.
What makes GDPR challenging for the IT industry?
After being GDPR in effect, an IT company is bound to provide data to the user or to any individual upon his request – isn’t it a challenging task to store and manage data online. Even more challenging part of the job is to provide it on-demand to the user when asked. The law is actually making way for data protection officers in the tech world- a new job profile that is meant for appropriate system and data monitoring and security.
The IT companies are pressing for time and resources with wide-ranging legal implications imposed on them through GDPR. Though IT consulting companies are in place to handle and manage GDPR compliance, it will take time to be right on the button with the law.
