We live in a world where where personal data is currency that unlocks everything from cloud services to communication apps.
As an individual, there’s plenty to be concerned about. Want a social media account? Disclose your name and email address, and note that your IP address will be logged. Share your photos, videos, and location with friends. Tie your messaging app to your mobile phone number. Publish your videos on a video-sharing platform, which also happens to have a related calendar and email platform – oh, and they’re all owned owned by a company that sells advertising on its search engine.
To protect the privacy of individuals, countries around the world are enacting privacy laws to regulate how businesses collect, use and disclose personal data. As a result, businesses now face enormous challenges in global regulatory compliance in the area of personal data protection – yet, businesses have legitimate reasons for wanting to handle personal data.
From a marketing standpoint, a business may want personal data so it’s always selling the right products to the right people at the right times. The business may want to email customers with special offers, do a market research survey with individual follow-ups if certain criteria are met, or get its customers to recommend its brand to their friends.
From an organizational standpoint, businesses may want to maintain HR information on employees and their families so they can provide family benefits, or centralize HR information in an overseas office from which the company’s global headquarters operate.
This fully-connected environment comes with risks. Sometimes, despite a business’s efforts, something goes wrong and a database gets hacked, credit card information gets leaked, and privacy regulators commence investigations.
Whether you’re an individual or a business, local or global, we’re here to help you comply with personal data protection regulations and communicate with data protection regulators, so you can navigate the uncharted and ever-changing landscape of privacy regulation.
