Have you been feeling inundated with emails from companies lately , regarding updates to their terms of service policy?
That's right. And there's a good reason for that: the European Union's upcoming efforts to protect our personal data.
In April 2016, the EU announced that it would soon adopt the General Data Protection Regulation – a law that will more thoroughly regulate the personal and private data of users that companies and online social media platforms can access. Essentially, the GDPR aims to ensure that all of your information is used by companies responsibly.
And although the law has its basis in the EU, GDPR has a global impact because every global electronic company that collects data from someone living in the EU will be held accountable.
While the specific updates made to each company’s terms of service policy will be unique to each company, the law expands the definition of what information is considered personal data. This means that companies will likely adjust their privacy policies to inform users that basic information, such as IP addresses, location data, web browsing cookies, and other details, are also defined as personal data.
Although the new internet regulations don't go into effect until May 25, 2018, companies like Facebook, Instagram, Google, and others are starting to prepare by updating their terms of service and privacy policies now.
This is why we receive all these emails, which might be worth taking a look at to see if anything notable has changed.
