The GDPR is a legal text that has been applicable for more than a year. It was adopted to deal with a dark side of the internet that collects and coins our personal data.
Our data on the internet
Almost everyone has access to the internet these days, you can do almost anything by connecting on the web. Social networks are the most popular sites one can interact with all over the world. On social media, we react to posts, we comment on some and we like others. All this may seem trivial but hides a dark side. Everything you do on the internet is collected and stored. They make it possible to draw up a psychological profile of an Internet user, we can also identify his racial origin, his political opinions, in fact we can find out everything we need to know about him. This data is sold to companies who then have access to all the necessary information about you without your approval. This confidential information constitutes a market which weighs several billion dollars. The objective of the GDPR is to regulate these flows and to oblige the companies in question to adopt a policy of transparency..
Definition and purpose of GDPR
The GDPR, known as the Data Protection Regulation, is a law that entered into force on May 25, 2018 and concerns all countries of the European Union. It is a law that aims, among other things, to stop the collection of data from Internet users without their consent. Besides the "theft" of our personal information, we do not know the possible malicious purposes for which companies intend this data.
This text also allows the right to be forgotten. For example, if you appeared in a press article a few years ago, search engines will be able to find this article. But not anymore, because now you can have that information removed from the web.
In France, it is the CNIL or "Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés" which is responsible for managing the GDPR
Application and sanction
This law concerns any organization that processes the personal data of a European citizen, regardless of its size or staff. Either this law is therefore applicable worldwide, even if the company is based on another continent. If it processes data from a European citizen, it must comply with this law.
This law obliges companies wishing to collect your data to ask your opinion, otherwise penalties and fines are foreseen. Fines of up to 4% of global annual turnover. To get an idea, if the social network Facebook is not in the nails of the GDPR,
he can be fined $ 1.5 billion.
In France, the GDPR has already been rife more than once. The first notable penalty was made against Google by two associations in Austria and France. The latter accused the American firm of a lack of clarity of information as well as the lack of consent which was used in particular for personalized advertising. This charge led to a fine of 50 million euros against the American company.
Data collection has been going on for over two decades already, but it was not having much of an impact on our daily lives. The digital evolution has led to the monetization of data, which is worth billions of dollars today. Our personal data is valuable information that has an unimaginable impact on the world we see.
If you want to know more about this market and its impact, Netflix has released a documentary that chronicles a scandal related to the ethical misuse of data. This documentary is called: Cambridge Analytica.