By Lorna L Cropper, LL.M., CIPP/E - Solicitor

As the New Year dawns it is customary to look ahead at potential hot legal tech topics.

Data Protection

The agreement reached by the European Commission, European Parliament and the Council on the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) at the end of 2015 certainly makes data protection centre stage.

There is a conflict surrounding the protection of personal data though between what users and data subjects want from services; whether or not they understand and/or care about what happens to their data; and how controllers actually use personal data. Ofcom in May 2015 reported that “seven in ten (68%) [surveyed] say they are happy to provide personal information online to companies as long as they get what they want”. Sometimes controversy that surrounds a company’s privacy policy does not have much of a negative effect either. Facebook now has over 1.55 billion users. However, in light of the Max Schrems’ judgment that invalidated the Safe Harbor agreement, which allowed for the safe transfer of data between Europe and the US, users may begin to question more about what is happening to their personal data. In conjunction with users accepting greater responsibility for their own personal data, corporate and governmental accountability for educating users about how they share their personal data may well become a greater priority in 2016.

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