It is one month since the day when the regulation known as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) came into effect in European Union. It affects everyone who wants to provide services or information to users who are accessing the internet in an EU country.
At the same time as the GDPR went live, Google tightened security in its popular Chrome browser. An unencrypted site without SSL certificate raised a flag and Chrome users were warned.
So, business and individuals who run web sites had to conform to EU’s GDPR regulation and Google’s new security policy. It was a lot of work for everyone. Maybe it is too soon, but I have to ask: was it worth the investment?
We updated all our web site to use the secure SSL connection, and to provide detailed information to visitors about the privacy practices on our sites. As far as I can tell, life after GDPR goes on as it did before the GDPR date.
Of course, it is beneficial to run secure connections so that visitors can trust they are visiting the web site they intended to visit. Of course, it is beneficial to provide information and advise for visitors on their privacy. But that’s about it for the moment.
As a user, consumer, a potential customer for online services, however, I have seen plenty of weird things. Sites that lock out European visitors completely, sites that force visitors to walk through multiple pages of information, and sites that cover their pages with pop-up windows. I believe many other users like myself have skipped those sites and headed to somewhere else. It is not worth the time or effort to communicate with sites that may have overreacted to the new regulation.
So far, after GDPR, the biggest news is a multi-billion lawsuit by an Austrian activist against Facebook and Google. He says the companies knowingly continue privacy practices that are not compliant with GDPR.
In summary, one big court case, business as usual for small businesses, and more difficult surfing for internet users. That’s the bottom line for life one month after GDPR.