“Who’d have guessed that what goes on Facebook doesn’t stay there!” chuckled the BattleAxe as she shared the latest amusing cat video. “Have you ever thought of how much of your personal data is on the net and what it’s being used for?” she mused as her Chief Elf nervously started changing his banking password.
“Don’t worry too much about that Elf, if you have strong passwords, don’t share them or use them on computers that you don’t control, the risk is low. It’s more the social media stuff we share with friends and acquaintances – where you’re going, who you’re going with, your cat’s name and pictures of last night’s dinner…..preferably without your credit card visible on the table. All this is catnip to marketeers in deciding what will press your buttons – apparently, it can even be used to help you decide how to vote!”
“Isn’t GDPR going to stop all that when it comes into force later this year?” asked the Chief Elf, wondering if all his work on reviewing the systems, writing policies and cleansing the data held at BattleAxe HQ had been a complete waste of valuable time.
“Well sort of, but GDPR itself is more about how collectors of data review what they hold and requiring systems to be in place to make sure they know where and who it came from, what they have permission do with it and how and who, if anyone, they can share it with. It applies to businesses and organisations like sports clubs who should have been used to securing and making sure they only keep data that they can justify keeping for years already.
“The biggest changes are that you have to document your processes and tighter rules on making sure you’ve got consent to keep/use the data. It’s about time too because I’m sick of businesses bombarding us with marketing bumpf just because you once rang up to ask about their services. They can’t rely on pre-ticked boxes anymore. Thankfully, GDPR means asking people to opt in to being pestered – and telling them what you’re going to pester them about in advance.
“But of course it doesn’t apply to individuals who simply found the information on social media because you forget to adjust your privacy settings so that only real friends and family can see that colourful rant about your boss after you’ve had a few. And as for Google’s trick of watching what you browse so that local businesses can pop up their ad every time you decide you want to look on YouTube for a “how do I ...?” video……
“You mean that’s not a coincidence?” asked a perplexed looking Chief Elf.
“Surely you knew that by using Google you’d consented to being marketed to? How else do you think that lot is free?” she sighed and stomped off to send another withering blast to a household name requiring they remove her from their emailing list before she got her rolling pin out.
This article originally appeared in Huddersfield Examiner on April 5th
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