The GDPR roll out is just days away, and people’s’ inboxes are receiving a steady stream of privacy updates from sites that they are subscribed to. But despite the regulation coming in to effect on May 25, 2018, a recent survey shows that 40 percent of companies do not expect to be in compliance by that date. The study also shows that mid-sized companies with 5,000 to 25,000 employees report the highest readiness level for GDPR compliance as opposed to small and large businesses. The majority of respondents said that the biggest hindrance to compliance is the need to make comprehensive changes in business practices. The penalties for non-compliance could be up to €20m or 4 percent of global turnover, whichever is the greater amount.
It is no coincidence that the updates will come in to effect on May 25, 2018, the day that GDPR is rolled out. In a blog post today, Twitter’s Data Protection Officer Damien Kieran said that the privacy policy will apply globally, and that it has been updated to make it visually clear and easy to use. “For now, we encourage everyone to educate and empower themselves by reading our forthcoming Privacy Policy in full and to make your voice heard,” said Kieran.
Every since Facebook’s data breach scandal broke, companies have been taking a long, hard look at customer data privacy. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, announced a personal data download feature to users in an effort to comply with GDPR.
WhatsApp, which is also owned by Facebook, also announced today that users will be able to download their personal data. WhatsApp is also raising the minimum age of users in Europe from 13 to 16 in Europe comply with GDPR, but its minimum age for users in other parts of the world will remain 13. While Facebook has said that it will comply with GDPR for users in Europe, but in an interview with Reuters earlier this month, Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook “would apply the EU law globally “in spirit,” but stopped short of committing to it as the standard for the social network across the world.”
By Lokesh
