Headquarters As the majority of the world’s largest tech companies have their European headquarters in Ireland, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner will effectively have to regulate data issues for those companies’ operations throughout the EU.
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Good luck with that.
Today’s agreement also includes a law protecting personal data shared between law enforcement authorities. These are politically minded people, and there are three organisations involved. By unifying Europe’s rules on data protection, lawmakers are creating a business opportunity and encouraging innovation.
Andrus Ansip, vice-president for the EU Digital Single Market, said: “The digital future of Europe can only be built on trust”.
“Linking sanctions to worldwide turnover makes zero sense”, Alexander Whalen of trade group Digital Europe told The New York Times. Known as the digital single market, the initiative was announced earlier this year.
‘Businesses need to implement privacy by design and by default – they need to be in a position to identify the who, where, what, when and why – information under their control and demonstrate they have a comprehensive understanding of data protection risk and they are taking measures to mitigate them’. “They are, in fact, an essential competitive advantage”, he said. That may require significant technical adjustments from most digital services.
The modifications to the law that the European Commission is considering are seen as necessary to meet the evolving nature of technology used to capture and manage user data, driven by the developments of cloud computing, ubiquitous mobile devices, social media and other rapid changes in the way personal data is collected and utilized.
This landmark piece of legislation also seeks to assist individuals to gain more control over their personal data and what is shared.
This move is prompted by costs and practicality, with 68% of respondents claiming the new regulations will dramatically increase the costs of doing business in Europe, and more than 50% feeling they will not be able to fulfil the requirements set out by the EU.
New laws are expected to take effect by 2017, and will enforce a tougher stand on privacy, breach reporting and the Right to be Forgotten ruling.
“The scale and width of the EU’s changes to secrecy rules will provide unprecedented challenges for company and every thing that holds of uses European private data both inside as well as outside the EU”. It will protect everyone – regardless of whether they are a victim, criminal or witness. ENISA has provided a lot of work in this field in co-operation with national Data Protection Authorities.
A problem with current laws, which date back to the 1990s, is that regulators can only levy fines which are puny in comparison to the revenues of the companies involved.
Having passed a vote in the European Parliament past year, member states and regulators have since been thrashing out the details. Service providers will also be obligated to inform users of any data leaks as quickly as possible.
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The reform consists of two parts: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Directive.
