If you are a regular internet user, then you must have seen the pop-up message box requesting to accept or decline cookies. These were not common earlier, and some internet users are complaining about them. But have you wondered why you are experiencing this sudden change on the internet? Why this restriction to access information which was so easy to get before? Data Privacy Laws are the answer to these and many other similar questions that internet users must have. And before you start complaining about these as well, here’s everything you need to know about data privacy laws and their importance in the modern era.
Importance of Data Privacy Laws
Data Privacy Laws have been created to protect the rights of individuals whose personal data have been collected, processed, and stored by organizations without their knowledge. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the EU-GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) are two prime examples of data privacy laws. These laws or regulations ensure that the citizens of California and the European Union are protected against data theft which is very common nowadays.
ü EU-GDPR became the first data privacy law to get enforced in the year 2018. Under its regulations, any establishment or organization whether they are a public institution, a non-profit, or a profit-making venture having an online website must inform the citizens of the EU and the EEA (European Economic Area) about the collection, processing, and storage of their personal information. They must gain prior consent from the internet users about the nature of their data collection and clearly mention their intent.
ü The CCPA follows in the footsteps of the EU-GDPR, but the rules and regulations of CCPA are limited to the residents of California alone. It was enforced from the 1st of January 2020. Their sanctions are for profit-making business entities only. These business entities must meet certain CCPA criteria to receive the sanctions. Just like in the EU-GDPR, businesses must list their intent clearly on their website before allowing access to the users. However, unlike the EU-GDPR, the CCPA regulations allow users to have the option to choose whether they want their personal data to get shared or sold to a third-party entity.
Sanctions for violating data privacy laws are strict and are enforced by law. Organizations or business enterprises found guilty of violating the EU-GDPR can get fines up to € 20 million or nearly 4% of the total global turnover. Individuals must be made aware of the data breach with regular notification, failure on the part of the organization to do the same is considered a violation of the EU-GDPR as well. As compared to this, CCPA sanctions are imposed only after the data breach has happened.
Conclusion
So, we can conclude that data privacy laws are very important for protecting the rights of an individual using and sharing information with several organizations on the cloud. These two data privacy laws mentioned in this article are just the leading examples of data protection and privacy laws. We are observing many new data privacy and protection laws around the globe. The UK-GDPR, Brazil’s LGPD (General Law for the Protection of Personal Data) and the US’s state privacy laws like California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), Virginia’s CDPA (Consumer Data Protection Act), CPA (Colorado Privacy Act), New York’s SHIELD (Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security) Act are some new regulations that have been introduced recently. Therefore, organizations need to improve their compliance and follow the guidelines mentioned in these data privacy laws to conduct their daily business processes.
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