Data privacy: will it be as in vogue as it was in 2018?

The summer of 2018 saw England almost ‘bring football home’ (and I emphasise ‘almost’ as a proud citizen of Paris), the marriage between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Irish Referendum and the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century. It was also the summer GDPR was bigger than Beyoncé, according to Google.   

Platforms such as Facebook were held accountable for their data practices globally, and companies finally woke up to the fact that they had to adapt to GDPR’s new rules, to ensure compliance with the new European regulation.

Whilst, to the football fan or loyal monarchist, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may not have been as exciting as some of the big events that complemented the UK’s heatwave, the lasting impact of GDPR on consumer’s day-to-day lives far outweighs that of the others.

• Majority of companies still aren’t GDPR-compliant
• Data Privacy is having its day
• Here is the one reason why companies are getting data protection wrong

The significance of this European regulation has already been huge. We’ve seen the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) enforce fines to the big players, making an example of them so all businesses realise the seriousness of breaching the rules.

With so much achieved in 2018, it begs the question: what can we expect from 2019 and the plight of data? Will this year continue to be as pivotal for the battle for consumer privacy rights and what does GDPR still have yet to achieve? 

E-receipts show that GDPR might still need to solidify its celebrity status 

In January, we once again saw Data Protection Day, an international holiday to raise awareness and promote privacy and data protection best practices. Whilst this day does so much to keep these topics within the mainstream agenda and at the forefront of people’s minds, there is still quite far to go as GDPR becomes the new normal. Already, regulators are keeping a close eye on some industries that are going throu