Editorial

You heard about this GDPR thing? Me neither

GOV.UK does a helpful reminder about some set of data protection changes apparently on their way soon. Who knew?

Posted 25 April 2018 by Gary Flood


Just in case you didn’t know – the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in UK law a month from today, Friday May 25th.

As that’s also conveniently enough the second May Bank Holiday Weekend, doubtless you and your team plan to get the work done over the three days in time for full compliance on the Tuesday.

Joking aside, it really is time to at least start panicking – which is possibly why GOV.UK has provided a handy reminder of what you need to do today.

Well, actually – not really. It’s a very short piece which basically directs you straight to two ICO resources – which are very useful, as it happens (as should be expected from the country’s official data privacy and protection watchdog, which put the post up in partnership with DCMS).

The first is an online self-assessment test for organisations to see what their liabilities may be, while the second is to the full ICO GDPR guidance.

HMG’s sangfroid in the face of the imminent change to the entire way we work with data, in the public, private and non-profit sectors alike, is in some ways admirable: all it chooses to say to a possibly baffled UK is that GDPR, which comes into our laws as part of an updated to the 1998 Data Protection Act, “could affect how organisations and businesses collect, use and store people’s personal data”.

It goes on to add that, “Your customers, employees and other individuals need to be able to trust you to look after and use their personal data responsibly and safely. Knowing they can trust you is good for your organisation or business and you may risk a fine if you don’t comply.”

Sensible and correct. Let’s hope it’s enough to spur at least a few CEOs to something at last… though we suspect here at Think Digital Partners that it will take a few headline fines and busts to really focus attention.