Starter for 10
There's now less than a month to go until GDPR comes in, and suddenly everyone seems to be worried about it. By "everyone" I mean that social networks and online shops have presumably decided on "a month beforehand" as the appropriate time to start asking their users for more consent, making them aware of changes.
There's also stuff like this showing up - you might have seen it doing the rounds on Facebook.
Techradar really should know better, but I suppose this just shows that sadly even well-respected websites are now obsessed with "engagement", i.e. they're churning out clickbaity bullsh*t.
I'm not going to link directly to the article but here are the main points of the article:
MASSIVE FINES O NOES!!!!!!!!
People are still using USB sticks and their printers might be unsecured.
My take on it is this:
The ICO have made it clear that they're not looking for an excuse to fine people, and frankly I don't believe they have the resource to do so anyway. GDPR is a big wake-up to all of us to start treating data more carefully, but this should not be panic-driven because we're scared of fines. It should be a top-down look at how your organisation handles data and how you could do that better. Worrying about your printers is not the place to start, which leads me on to point 2...
This "article" stinks of paid-for content by a certain large printer manufacturer who are linked from the article. It's a textbook example of using GDPR as a way to scaremonger and drive their own business. Do not be taken in by it. Having said that, unsecured USB sticks really aren't a good idea nowadays. They will get lost, end up with out-of-date information sitting around on them, and generally they're a complication that you don't need in our brave post-GDPR world. Replace them with secure cloud-based file storage and transfer solutions.
And, as ever, DM me on Twitter (@data_gardener) or email me at rob@data-gardener.co.uk if you'd like to employ me to help you with these sorts of things! There, that's my textbook example of using GDPR to drive my own business...
Until next time!
