What is GDPR and Why You Should Care? | EP 184

What is GDPR and Why You Should Care?

1. What is it? 01:00
   • It stands for General Data Protection Regulations.
   • Essentially, it is a new set of laws in the EU, with the goal of giving power back to the consumer regarding personal data.
2. Why is it important to you? 01:45
   • Well because it doesn’t just impact EU websites, it will have an impact on websites all over the world who have EU website visitors.
   • Also, it will become enforceable on May 25, 2018. If caught breaking this law, you could be fined up to 20 million euros or 4% of your annual revenue, whichever is greater. So it is a big deal.
3. Even though it is for the EU, you will have to take precautions on your websites 03:00
   • The only way that the EU can really enforce this in the U.S. is if our government lets them. Since the U.S. and the EU are pretty close, it’s a very real possibility.
4. What you’ll have to do to comply with GDPR 05:45
   • Even if you only have a simple contact form on your website, you’ll have to have a disclaimer on your website to comply with GDPR.
   • You will have to get explicit permission from your website visitors to gather their personal data. There is no more umbrella “click here to sign up for my email list”. You have to get permission when a user fills out a contact form on your website. You have to get permission when someone signs up for your email list. Specific permission for each situation.
   • For more information, check out our episode on this topic over at the Divi Chat podcast.
5. Don’t freak out 08:29
   • This will be very difficult to monitor and enforce in the U.S.
   • Also, the EU will be looking more at the larger companies, not the mom and pop shops.
   • Just be aware that this is coming and prepare to make some updates to your disclaimers.

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