How modern-day data is managed is a big talking point these days, especially since the Cambridge Analytica scandal soared into the public eye back in 2018. Since people have been a lot more aware of their data and how it’s being used, one of the government responses to try and help protect data usage and ensure it wasn’t being abused was the adaptation of the GDPR.
But over the years, where has the GDPR got up to? What’s it been doing? Has it been a successful venture, or is there still more work to do? IN today’s guide, we’re going to take a look.
What is the GDPR?
The GDPR was formed in 2018, around the same time as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, when it became known that social media and big tech platforms like Facebook were using the data from millions of accounts to swing people into voting for different political parties. In a sense, they were basically rigging elections.
Of course, this is corruption at its core, and the UK response (since Cambridge Analytica was based in the UK) was to create the GDPR to help protect users and their data. The terms laid out meant that companies had to be transparent with how companies were using their customer’s data, what it was being used for, and gave them control over being able to delete it and remove it through a company’s database if they wanted.
If you’ve been on a website over the last few years and the first thing you see is a pop-up asking whether you accept or reject the usage and tracking of your data, this is a direct result of the action the GDPR has taken.
“There’s no denying that the GDPR has raised the stakes of how data is used. If it’s discovered that a company is misusing a user’s data without their knowledge, the company can receive a fine of up to £20 million, or 4% of their annual turnover (whichever is largest), which is huge,” shares LawManaging.
Has it Been Effective?
In the last three years since the GDPR’s inception, many companies have broken the rules and have been fined as a result. The largest by far was the fine against British Airways back in July 2018 that totalled £183 million as a result of data breaches that leaked the flight and payment information of up to 560,000 customers connected with their flight bookings.
Not long after this, Marriott Hotels was hit with a £99 million fine for a fault in their booking system that led to the leaking of over 339 million users. Even subsidiaries of the GDPR, such as the CNIL in France, fined Google £50 million after a forced consent protocol was discovered in the Android operating system.
There are plenty of examples of this happening over the years, and as more people become aware of the GDPR and what it’s doing, then it makes sense that the number of these examples will increase.
Summary
So, yes, if you’re asking has the GDPR been effective, it has in the sense that the legislation is cracking down on companies that are not up to standard regarding protecting their customer’s data and looking out for the public interest. As with many things in life, we’re sure there are plenty more cases to come, so watch this space.
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