Europeans Getting More Familiar With GDPR, Poll Finds
Europeans are relatively aware of the general data protection regulation (GDPR), their privacy rights and the existence of national data protection authorities (DPAs), the European Commission said Thursday. A survey of 27,000 people showed that, a year after the law…
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became effective in May 2018, 73% have heard of at least one of the six rights it guarantees, particularly the rights to access their own data, object to receiving direct marketing and have their data deleted. Another key finding was that 62% of those surveyed said they worry about not having complete control cover the personal data they provide online. The EC launched an awareness-raising campaign to encourage people to read privacy statements and set privacy settings to ensure they only share data they're willing to share. GDPR is still "a baby that is growing fast and doing well" but that needs continued nurturing, EU Justice, Consumer and Gender Equality Commissioner Vera Jourova said at a Brussels event marking the first-year anniversary. Among other things, she tweeted, "We must avoid fragmentation and temptation for adding additional conditions or expansive interpretation," and avoid "the so-called 'gold plating.'" It's time to "roll up the sleeves," European Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli said via video For enforcement to be effective, the European Data Protection Board must be better resourced, DPAs must start to use the full range of their enforcement powers, and data controllers must better respect the spirit as well as the letter of the law. The GDPR won't significantly affect the current digital ecosystem unless companies have based their business model on excessive use of personal data for profiling and other activities, he said. Buttarelli plans to publish soon a "visionary manifesto" on what's needed to maintain GDPR enforcement, what national authorities can do to be more effective and how to set global principles for big data and artificial intelligence.