Regulation arrives, world does not end, etc
Europe’s new privacy rules: 1 month in, 7 takeaways
Here’s what’s already changed on the world wide web.
By LAURENS CERULUS AND MARK SCOTT
6/25/18, 6:00 AM CET Updated 6/25/18, 11:58 PM CET
At least the emails have stopped.
It was just a month ago that Europe ushered in a new age of online privacy by enforcing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), arguably the most extensive revamp of privacy rules in 20 years — and the trigger for a deluge of emails, many of them pointless.
But, already, the world is a different place.
Across the European Union, data protection watchdogs now have greater powers with which to take on tech giants such as Google and Facebook.
Privacy activists have more powerful legal instruments with which to take on companies they suspect of misusing data.
And companies around the world — effectively, any that do business within the EU — are exposed to fines of as much as 4 percent of their annual revenue, or €20 million, whichever is greater, if they mishandle Europeans’ data.
In the words of European Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová, the arrival of the GDPR opened “a new era for many companies.”
Yet so far, what has really changed? Here is our guide to what’s new, and what’s not, in Europe’s new era of online privacy....
