Are you as confused as I am about the implementation of GDPR and what it means for you as a blogger (or reader of blogs)? The EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will officially come into effect tomorrow, May 25, 2018. And, to be quite honest, I don’t know what all the possible implications for me will be, especially as my blog is not monetised, I don’t actively “market” and I don’t sell product. But, on a personal level, I assume I’ll be receiving less email!
For all of us in Sweden, GDPR will replace the Swedish Personal Data Act. Apparently there are similarities between these two regulations, but under GDPR individual rights will be strengthened and companies will be subject to more restrictions when processing personal data. If you’d like to read the European Union’s entire legislative act for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you can find it here. If, like me, you have neither the time nor inclination, here’s the skinny version:
Basically, GDPR will reinforce what professional marketers already do: i.e., sending marketing material only to those who opt in, while keeping personal data secure and safe.
What this means for businesses is, no doubt, a lot more complicated than what it means for individuals like me. From an article by The Verge entitled No one’s ready for GDPR:
‘For companies that have operated under the principle of “extract as much data as possible and figure it out later,” reorganizing under GDPR is a lot like an episode of Hoarders, especially one of those episodes where the hoarder doesn’t finish cleaning and everyone sort of falls apart crying at the end.’
For my part, I feel it necessary to add my own statement about GDPR as it may pertain to this blog, just to be on the safe side. MJ Mallon has scripted one that I’ve tweaked slightly in part for the purposes of simplicity and because she has succinctly included information that I believe could be relevant to this matter.
Email subscribers, I hope this issue will not affect you. Please pop back if you don’t hear from me in a while!
<3 Marisa x
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Your privacy and my GDPR compliance
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That’s a great statement. I am not even sure how GDPR affects little old us in NZ but apparently it does.
Hello! My understanding is that if you are collecting data from anyone within the EU (even if it is merely an automatic function of WordPress to do so if someone from within the EU happens to leave a comment on your blog), then it affects you. Though I am sure the implications on businesses that collect data for the purposes of sales and marketing are far greater than on personal blogs 🙂 I hope you are well! x
I see there are some WordPress plugins for GDPR but actually if WordPress itself came out with a statement.
I have seen a few too… they seem to have mixed reviews. Will be interesting to see how WordPress deals with it!
Interesting post Marisa – great knowledge sharing for fellow bloggers….
Hi Laura. Thank you x. I really don’t know if this is a complete non-issue for blogs that aren’t monetised and don’t “market”, but just in case…