So what is the entire buzz about the May 25th deadline and GDPR compliance? Are you an online retailer? Well, in that case you will also need to join the crowd. Are you still confused about what you will need to do exactly? Read on to know how this GDPR compliance may bring changes in your business processes and how you will need to introduce modifications in your online setup.
What is GDPR?
Let us begin with what is GDPR. Though you might have an idea of General Data Protection Rules or GDPR as it is called and adhering to these rules, let us focus more on the current scenario and your role in keeping your store on par with these regulations. In a gist, online stores running their business in the European Union or EU as it is referred to will need to be GDPR compliant. Also, concerns from other countries that are associated with EU will be scrutinized for the GDPR compliance without any compromises.
Need for GDPR:
How did the need for GDPR arise and how does it serve the purpose? Any data transaction with respect to an individual’s personal information or sensitive information will need to be checked for this compliance. Why? Simply to enhance the security levels and curb misuse. What is the difference between personal information and sensitive information? Data like name, location, address is categorized as the personal information. Sensitive information is the in-depth details which specify the person like height, weight, appearance and so on. GDPR ensures that such data is passed over only to an authorized source, unless and until necessary.
How does GDPR expect you to obtain data from your customers?
- Always be sure to get the acceptance of your customers before getting their information
- Ensure to rule out options of blanket consent, obtaining consent by default or including consent into the general terms and conditions
- Keep in mind to provide your customers the right to revert their acceptance at any point of time
How to begin with your GDPR compliance?
Start with asking these questions to yourself about your online store:
- What is the methodology my store is using to obtain data from customers?
- Are proper measures in place to secure critical information?
- Am I appropriately informing my customers about their data usage?
- Am I giving proper space to my customers regarding their data usage? Are they being given the right to restrict the usage of this data?
GDPR compliance for Magento:
- Focus on getting due consent from the data owner before using information. Ensure that you have a transparent process in place to inform your customer about what is happening to their data.
- Eliminate default checked boxes and get the consent from the customers explicitly
- Let your customers delete information or their accounts, if needed.
- Pseudonymization is maintaining the security of personal data. Information is encrypted and it will require more information from the data owner to decrypt this information. This feature ensures complete data security.
- The subject access request should be handled within a month, says the GDPR law. This gives a customer the right to ask for all the information in the system for his access in the machine readable format at any point of time.
To summarize, GDPR has revived its regulations in an attempt to eliminate all possible risks pertaining to data mishandling for maintaining customer data security.
