The privacy policy that is the GDPR was crafted with social implications in mind. Creating consistent data standards to protect consumer data from abuse was the catalyst that fueled the creation of the GDPR. The 21st century is a time where a lot of personal information is being shared online (voluntarily or involuntarily) like health records, spending behaviors, personal vital records, and even biometric data. The societal landscape of the 21st century is being transformed by the GDPR. The GDPR has had a massive societal impact by firstly giving European Union citizens control over their data, secondly giving the public the right to erase their data, and lastly giving societal members the right of data portability.
Giving members of a society control over their data can have a profound impact on how society is structured. The GDPR has massive social implications on a plethora of different fields like engineering, health, and even business. Agam Shah in his article “How GDPR Impacts Engineering” states that the GDPR gives people control over their data by forcing companies to re-examine device design, re-think how sensors collect data and re-examine entire business operations (par. 12, 2018). This is especially apparent in the marketing industry. Monica Meinert’s article titled “GDPR” says that target-based marketing firms have to be careful by how they present themselves online and how they market (par. 12, 2018). Monica goes on further to state that a target-based marketing firm collecting IP addresses to monitor people who are using the site to potentially serve ads need to be careful, because it could implicate the company if they are targeting EU citizens (par 12, 2018). Entire business models need to be tweaked to conform to the GDPR data privacy standards which can have widespread social implications.
Another right that is given under the GDPR that can have large social implications is the right to erase data. Monica’s article “GDPR” shares that the premise of the right to erase data is one that was crafted with the intent to give people control over their data it is also known as “the right to be forgotten” (par. 4, 2018). This can have a plethora of social implications, for example, imagine a pharmacy having sensitive purchase history information such as medications ordered. Some companies opt to sell customer information for profit, but with the GDPR in place, a citizen can order information to be erased.
The right to data portability is another very massive policy under the GDPR that will have large social implications. Monica Meinert’s article “GDPR” expands on what the GDPR means by data portability, the article explains that data portability means that individuals have the right to request their personal data from a company (par. 4, 2018). Monica’s article goes on to say that personal data can include a myriad of things like social media handles, IP addresses, and a lot more information (par. 4, 2018). Samuel Greengard’s article titled “Weighting the impact of GDPR” further expands the concept of data portability by stating the GDPR also allows individuals to not be subject to decisions that are made by algorithms or automated processing (page 18, 2018). Customer information is being sold in the United States by companies for profit to a lot of marketing firms for many reasons. Some reasons may include a marketing firm wanting to display targeted ads other reasons may include some firms collecting valuable customer intel to feed algorithms to better optimize business decisions. The GDPR that is in place in the European Union, however, sheds light on otherwise shady business dealings. The GDPR allows its citizens to know exactly what information is being collected on them and gives them the power to not be subject to algorithms.