GDPR: How to Handle a Data Breach

February 8, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Photo by Christoph Scholz from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Every company that sends commercial emails to people who reside in the EU or process their data has to comply with the new privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This law has specific rules about how companies have to respond when a data breach occurs. It’s so much better than the current rules in the U.S.

Report the Breach to Supervisor within 72 Hours

When a data breach occurs, the employee must report the breach to their supervisory authority without undue delay, and where feasible, within 72 hours of learning of the breach. This notice must include the likely consequences of the breach and the measures the company is taking to mitigate the potential adverse effects.

The only exception to this rule is if the breach is unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons. The company doesn’t have to report the breach if it’s will not likely cause harm to those impacted.

Report the Breach to Consumers

In addition to reporting the breach up the chain of command, the company, without undue delay, must notify the people’s whose data was compromised if the breach is likely to result in a high risk to their rights and freedoms. The law doesn’t specify a number of days or a rubric to determine what is notification “without undue delay.”

Companies should notify the effected persons unless it would require a disproportionate effort. In that case, notification may be made by public communication.

There is an exception to this requirement. The company does not have to disclose that the data breach occurred if the personal data would be unintelligible (e.g. encrypted) to whomever stole it or if the risks have been sufficiently mitigated that adverse results are unlikely to occur.

These new requirements are fantastic. These will hopefully eliminate the problem of companies waiting weeks or months to disclose to impacted consumers that their personal data was hacked.

You can learn more about this aspect of the GDPR here:

Remember, if you are subject to the GDPR, you must comply with this law by May 25, 2018 when it goes into effect.

If you want more information about GDPR, please watch this site and my YouTube channel because I’m creating a substantial amount of content on this topic. You can also send me an email (Note: I can’t give advice to non-clients). I use my mailing list to I share my thoughts about being a lawyer/entrepreneur, updates about projects I’m working on, upcoming speaking engagements, and I may provide information about products, services, and discounts. Please add yourself if you’re interested.

You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

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GDPR: Protecting Personal Data

February 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Image by Descrier from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the new privacy law that goes into effect on May 25, 2018. Every company that sends commercial email to the European Union must comply with it, even if you’re not located in the EU. The purpose of this law is to obtain consent before using a person’s personal data and to adequately protect it.

Protection by Design and Default

The GDPR requires that you take adequate precautions to protect the personal information entrusted to you. The law does not specify exactly what you must do protect this data beyond the requirement that you take the appropriate technical and organizational measures considering the cost, available technology, and why you are processing individuals’ data. The level of security should correlate to the level of risk related to the nature of the data and what you’re doing with it. Additionally, you should only process the necessary data to fulfill your purpose for doing so.

Another requirement of GDPR is that the people who have access to the data subjects’ information are only permitted to process it per the data controller’s instructions. This is a rule that every organization should have: only those who need access to the data subject’s information should have it, and it should be limited to only for the tasks for which they need it.

You can learn more about these requirements here:

Maintain a Records of Processing Activities

The GDPR requires certain companies to maintain a record of all their processing activities. These companies fall into one of two categories:

  1. Companies that employ 250 or more persons.
  2. Companies whose work with data subjects’ information presents a high risk to the data subjects’ rights, or the companies process data that falls into one of the following special categories:
  • Racial or ethnic origin
  • Political opinions
  • Religious or philosophical beliefs
  • Trade-union membership
  • Genetic data
  • Biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person
  • Data concerning health
  • Data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation

As a company with no employees (just me running this show) and the only information people give me are their email address and name, I don’t have to maintain this record. If I did, it would only be a list of newsletters I sent and the service I use keeps my list protected behind a password.

If you want more information about GDPR, please watch this site and my YouTube channel because I’m creating a substantial amount of content on this topic. You can also send me an email (Note: I can’t give advice to non-clients). I use my mailing list to I share my thoughts about being a lawyer/entrepreneur, updates about projects I’m working on, upcoming speaking engagements, and I may provide information about products, services, and discounts. Please add yourself if you’re interested.

You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

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GDPR: Full Disclosure Required

January 25, 2018 by Leave a Comment

«Via sicura» by Falk Lademann from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

If you’ve been following this blog, you know I’m all about preparing for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as it applies to content marketing. This rule applies to every company that sends commercial emails to anyone in the European Union. (If you don’t know where everyone on your list is located, assume at least one of them lives in the EU.) We’ve already talked about how, under this law, when you want to add a person to your email list, you must get their specific informed consent and you must be able to prove that you obtained their consent to be on your list.

The GDPR requires, when you obtain this consent, to provide the person (aka data subject) with the following information:

  • The identity and contact information of the controller of the data subject’s information or their representative;
  • The contact information for the data protection officer (if applicable);
  • Your purpose for processing the data subject’s information and legal basis for doing so;
  • The period of time the data will be stored;
  • The data subject’s right to request erasure or corrections of their data or to restrict the processing of their data;
  • The data subject’s right to withdraw their consent;
  • The data subject’s right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority; and
  • Whether the data subject giving their information fulfills a statutory or contractual obligation.

If you want to process the subject’s data for another purpose, you must tell the person in advance, and when a person’s data is processed for direct marketing purposes, the data subject has the right to object at any time.

At the first reading of these requirements, my first thought was that the signage at conferences where vendors collect business cards would have to become much more complicated to comply with GDPR. I thought about how this firm will comply with these requirements. People voluntarily add themselves to my email, so I don’t know where they live. I will be adding double opt-in consent for my email list, and I believe the most effective way to comply with these requirements is to include this information in the confirmatory email.

You can hear more about these requirements here:

We have to comply with these rules by May 25, 2018 when this new rule goes into effect.

If you want more information about GDPR, please watch this site and my YouTube channel because I’m creating a substantial amount of content on this topic. You can also send me an email (Note: I can’t give advice to non-clients). I use my mailing list to I share my thoughts about being a lawyer/entrepreneur, updates about projects I’m working on, upcoming speaking engagements, and I may provide information about products, services, and discounts. Please add yourself if you’re interested.

You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

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Proving Consent Under the GDPR

January 18, 2018 by 5 Comments

“Consent Is Sexy” by Charlotte Cooper from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect on May 25, 2018. According to this new law aimed at protecting individuals’ privacy and their personal data, all companies that send commercial emails to any person living in the European Union must obtain a person’s consent to collect and process their data – and be able to prove it. This applies to anyone who collects and processes data from persons living in the EU, including non-EU companies.

The key to compliance is specific explicit consent.

Double Opt-In Required for Email Lists

If you have an email list, the GDPR essentially requires you to use double opt-in when adding someone to your list. This will help resolve the problem of companies adding people to their mailing list without consent.

So many times, when I’ve sent a question, bought a product, or dropped my card in a company’s drawing for an iPad at a conference, my inbox has been bombarded with the company’s newsletter and “special offers.” We all agree this is poor form, right? If I want to be on your list, I promise I’ll add myself.

It happened just this week. A new connection on LinkedIn sent me an email to invite me to coffee. While we were exchanging emails to arrange a meeting time, he added me to his list! When his newsletter hit my inbox, I let him know that adding me to his list violated Wheaton’s Law and he blew his opportunity to have coffee with me.

Under the GDPR, you have to verify you’ve obtained consent to send someone commercial emails. This also avoids problems like someone adding you to a list without consent as a joke or to annoy you.

Written Declarations of Consent

If the data subject gives their consent in writing – perhaps at an expo at a conference or by filling out a form on your website, you must explicitly tell them what they’re signing up for. Their consent must be obtained:

  • On an easily accessible form,
  • Using clear and plain language, and
  • Distinguishable from other matters.

This means consent cannot be buried in your terms of service or some other process or fine print.

Right to Withdraw Consent

One of the requirements of the GDPR is it must be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give consent. Companies that comply with the U.S.’s CAN-SPAM Act know that every email  they send “must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future.” Email services, like Mail Chimp, already have this feature by automatically including an “Unsubscribe” link in every newsletter its users send.

Here’s more on the consent requirements for the GDPR:

If you want more information about GDPR, please watch this site and my YouTube channel because I’m creating a substantial amount of content on this topic. You can also send me an email (Note: I can’t give advice to non-clients). I use my mailing list to I share my thoughts about being a lawyer/entrepreneur, updates about projects I’m working on, upcoming speaking engagements, and I may provide information about products, services, and discounts. Please add yourself if you’re interested.

You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

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GDPR Compliance: Informed Consent Required

January 11, 2018 by 1 Comment

“Content Marketing” by Luis Osorio from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the new law aimed at protecting individuals’ privacy and their personal data. All companies that send commercial emails to any person living in the EU must comply with this law when it goes into effect on May 25, 2018 – including non-EU companies.

If you collect or process personal data from any natural person residing in the EU, the GDPR requires you obtain the person’s specific, informed consent that unambiguously indicates the person’s wishes or it must be given by a clear affirmative action.

When you collect a natural person’s (aka data subject’s) personal data, the GDPR requires you to do the following:

  • It must be done lawfully, fairly, and with transparency.
  • Data must be collected for a specific, explicit, and legitimate purpose.
  • The data collected must be limited to the data necessary for the purposes for which it will be processed.
  • You must erase or rectify inaccurate data without delay.
  • You must keep the data for a period that is no longer than necessary for the purpose for which it will be used.
  • You must protect the data subjects’ personal data with appropriate security measures.

Requiring specific informed consent, means you can’t hide the consent information in your terms of service. The data subject has to know what they’re signing up for and give their explicit consent to use their data. If you give people who visit your website the option to add themselves to your mailing list, that, since you won’t know where they live (especially if all they’re providing you is a name and email address), the sign-up form should comply with the GDPR requirements.

I suspect it also means that dropping your card in the bowl to try to win an iPad at a booth and a conference won’t be sufficient to establish explicit consent to add a person to your email list unless there’s verbiage adjacent to the bowl that doing so is a clear affirmative action of consent. Hmm . . . perhaps event organizers who have EU attendees should provide their expo vendors information about obtaining consent under GDPR.

If you want more information about GDPR, please watch this site and my YouTube channel because I’m creating a substantial amount of content on this topic. You can also send me an email (Note: I can’t give advice to non-clients). I use my mailing list to I share my thoughts about being a lawyer/entrepreneur, updates about projects I’m working on, upcoming speaking engagements, and I may provide information about products, services, and discounts. Please add yourself if you’re interested.

You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

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Preparing for GDPR: Are You Ready?

January 4, 2018 by 2 Comments

Europe Privacy Law GDPR from Smeders Internet

This year, I’m putting considerable energy into understanding and complying with the GDPR.

What is the GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European law that goes into effect on May 25, 2018.

It impacts any professional commercial activities regarding natural persons residing in the EU, so that includes process personal information about natural person who lives in the EU, or sending commercial emails to any natural person who lives in the EU. Commercial emails include the offer of goods or services, even if you’re not doing it in exchange for money.

The purpose of this new law is to protect natural persons’ personal data, and it includes provisions about obtaining data subjects’ consent and using adequate security to protect their information. Failure to comply could result in millions of dollars in fines.

Who is Exempt from GDPR?

The GDPR does not apply to anyone who stores or uses person’s data for personal use – like if you maintain a personal database of contacts, and some of them happen to be people who live in the EU.

It also doesn’t apply to anonymous persons or dead people.

Complying with the GDPR

I have read the GDPR from cover to cover (260 pages). A significant amount of my work in early 2018 will be related to GDPR compliance – starting with my own company

My rule for my email list is people add themselves. It’s disrespectful when companies add you to their email list without consent, so I don’t do it. As a result, I have no idea where most of my subscribers are located. I have assume at least one of them is a person who resides in the EU, therefore the GDPR applies.

For the next few weeks, I’m going to be breaking down this law into it’s requirements and applying them to my business so I can, in turn, educate and help other companies modify their policies and practices before the law goes into effect on May 25, 2018.

This is not a law that companies can easily comply by adding a new paragraph to their terms of service. It will change their tactics and approach to content marketing.

If you want more information about GDPR, please watch this site and my YouTube channel because I’m creating a substantial amount of content on this topic. You can also send me an email (Note: I can’t give advice to non-clients). I use my mailing list to I share my thoughts about being a lawyer/entrepreneur, updates about projects I’m working on, upcoming speaking engagements, and I may provide information about products, services, and discounts. Please add yourself if you’re interested.

You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

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