Does EU GDPR matter your business?

Does EU GDPR matter your business?

GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation is nearly a new flashing word in the last few months across the world - in fact, it is because the new regulation for data protection in EU came into force on 25th May 2018, replacing the old data privacy law. However, the approval on that law was made on 2016, and some companies have prepared before its start day, yet according to the article from Forbes, 79% of business in US haven't been ready to adapt this new regulation.

The critical point in this regulation is that no matter your business location registered is, if the business data involves EU citizens, it is in the scope of GDPR. Therefore not to mention such Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon - those giant marketing platform and social media, but also any global business who may target EU users and customers are obliged for GDPR, for example many in travel, logistics, and eCommerce industries.

The rule was designed to protect user's privacy, and forces an organization to get consensus from users for opt-in, to erase customer's data when asked, and notify users within 72 hours if data was hacked, where if the business was found breaching GDPR, it would be fined up to whichever bigger of 4% of global revenue or 23 million USD. Those requirements considerably calls operational and technological changes in the business, so it has significant impact on companies.

From users' perspective, if you are non-EU citizens, GDPR may benefits you when an organization applies new data protection beyond Europeans without separating categories. Although you cannot sue without legal formation in your country.

Nonetheless, none of new regulation could be perfect without any criticism from the beginning. Despite its purpose to protect users, an opinion says the regulation can expedite exploitation of users' data. Why? Since most of the time, a company is much expert on the data usage and the only option left for the users are to select "agreed" in turn of benefit that the company provides. The regulation is not powerful enough to limit the way of data usage.

While this new enforcement haven't developed enough in business how to execute, the movement of enhancing the privacy and user's right in digital world isn't deniable. The wave rose from EU could soon reach to everywhere in the world.

REFERENCE:
https://www.eugdpr.org/the-regulation.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/03/27/u-s-businesses-cant-hide-from-gdpr
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2018/05/09/how-will-gdpr-affect-the-mobile-marketing-world/
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/what-gdpr-means-for-facebook-google-the-eu-us-and-you/

Wal-Mart squeezing out the little guy, or protecting their turf

Wal-Mart recently announced it would no longer work with technology vendors who run applications for the company from Amazon Web Services platform.  While plenty of cases have been made about Wal-Mart strong-arming suppliers, and setting their own terms in negotiations, it seems this instance has more to do with defending their own secrets.

Wal-Mart's decision is rooted in the fact they don't want their sensitive data sitting on a competitor's servers. In an age where more and more data is used to drive decisions, having unique data or analysis on customers is a source of competitive advantage, and there are few companies who can compete with Wal-Mart in either volume or quality of data; Amazon is likely one of this companies. And if there's anyone who knows what to do with that kind of data, it's Amazon.

Cyber security has been a front-and center issue for all online retailers, though typically it's because of the threat of hackers and outside threats. Wal-Mart's concern is in protecting from competitor threats. With one of Amazon's primary goals being to completely integrate businesses into their AWS platform, it's not very far fetched that Amazon could stumble upon sensitive information.

I don't think I blame Wal-Mart on this one.



Wal-Mart drops tech vendors using AWS