03 May The Shifting Personal Data Landscape: Individuals and Small Businesses
You have undoubtedly seen in recent events that data, privacy, in regards to the internet and social media have been huge topics lately. As an insurance and benefits brokerage firm, privacy and executing the correct procedure when handling our clients private information is at the fore-front of our work. Additionally, we have a special understanding of these concepts as many of our products relate directly to the health and finance well-being of our customers. For this reason Insuraty staff are constantly looking to stay informed of any shifts that may affect this knowledge. Because Insuraty is committed to helping our clients grow on personal and business aspects, we are making you aware of two such recent changes:
Two important events occuring around internet and data security are the Facebook Senate Hearing and the General Data Protection Regulation Policy (GDPR).
Facebook Senate Hearing
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was called in front of the United State’s Senate on Commerce and Judiciary Committee on April 10th, 2018 to discuss matters of national security and Facebook’s potential data and privacy abuses and breaches. The crux of this hearing and Facebook’s requested presence was due to the Cambridge Analytica scandal which alledges that millions of Facebook user’s personal data were used maliciously in the past election. The Senate hearing covered a variety of topics such as Facebook’s knowledge of foreign power’s manipulating their platform, user’s rights to privacy on Facebook, and whether or not Facebook sells it’s user’s personal data for profit. All in all this hearing raised more questions than it started with, mostly in regards to the nature of internet privacy, the role of social media, and what we as a nation can do to protect ourselves. We wont try to make up your mind about the situation, but you can get a recap of the hearing HERE
However, what we do know is that this hearing prompted a series of dominos to fall all around in regards to how we understand our personal data and the internet. Particularly social media and tech giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other’s have seriously begun a process of transformation and personal data. For instance, Twitter released a very informative bulletin on how they intend to change their platform and privacy policies to better protect consumer’s data and be more open. Some of these changes include more controls for user’s on how their personal data is used and transparency from Twitter on who and how their user’s personal data is shared. Facebook has also since made similar steps on its platform.
You can read Twitter’s privacy changes HERE
You can read Facebook’s privacy changes HERE
General Data Protection Regulation Policy (GDPR)
Passed in the European Union (EU) in April and due to go into affect May 25th, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation Policy (GDPR) is a new law surrounding personal data and the internet. Specifically, this policy was created to protect the data of its participating members and private citizens in regards to the processing and recording of their personal data. You may think that this law has little to do with American businesses, operating outside of the EU’s jurisdiction. However, this policy pertains to any citizen of the EU, including lower employees all the way up to CEO’s of a company. Anyone who has EU citizenship is subject to the protection of the GDPR. This means, if you are a company that has any business with any single person from a participating EU country you really need to know about this law. There are serious implications for those who are found non-compliant with the GDPR’s policy and failure to protect EU’s personal data properly, including hefty fines and limits from business in the EU.
However, as this topic is so tricky to understand, please go to this excellent blog written by the Constant Contact team which explains everything in detail HERE
Why are these topics important? The clients we serve have a variety of focuses, from local businesses to those conducting work at a global scale. As Insuraty is invested in the growth and well-being of all its clients we feel these topics are very important for you to know and learn more about to be successful.
Insuraty Health Tip
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Insuraty is a benefits brokerage and human resources outsourcing firm that supports many aspects of positive expansion and growth with its clients and their businesses. If you have questions in regards to your human resources, health insurance, life, 401k retirement savings or other benefits coverage please don’t hesitate to contact us today.