A colleague of mine recently attended a major festival in the UK, and she was given the traditional wristband for access to various festival ‘Zones’.
Nothing abnormal, except for the fact that this wristband had a microchip incorporated into the band. There were no explanations, no prominent declarations of GDPR compliance, no description of the process that would be used to wipe the microchip of data after the end of the festival!
I am beginning to feel that we are sleepwalking into uncontrolled data proliferation again, and that few members of the public really care! Why is this? I think that it shows what many professionals have already realised: That function and benefit outweigh the worries caused by somewhat uncontrolled utilisation of our personal data. In this case, a more personalised experience.
I might say that this is because of GDPR rather that despite GDPR!
Why is this the case? I believe that the widespread compliance with GDPR has lulled citizens into a false sense of security. Of course, the average person is not technically savvy regarding the details of the Act. They just notice that companies, processes and interactions are stating everywhere that they are compliant to GDPR (“It is something to do with data protection”) and the inevitable assumption is that all companies are compliant – and therefore it has ceased to become an issue for concern! Especially if their life is made easier somehow.
But that assumption is incorrect. We need to keep up our guard, lest we fall on the slippery slope back to unregulated data collection and use, via public complacency.
So how should we maintain our guard into the future?
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