PR: Few implications for marketing practitioners

Data is the new oil that powers and lubricates the digital economy. For some time, people have been aware of the economic value of personal data. Recent issues related to Facebook data harvesting has brought the issue of data rights of individuals and duties of organizations like never before. In this context, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) enacted by European Union which comes into effect in May 2018 is a significant step.

If your organization collects, uses, or shares personal data of EU citizens, GDPR will likely apply, regardless of whether or not you have physical operations in Europe. Serious infringements can result in fines of up to €20m, or 4% of your company’s global annual revenue, whichever is higher. This article will explore some of the key points and their implications for the marketing community.

The first important point is a broader definition of personal data. This now includes online identifiers like IP addresses and cookie identifiers will have immediate implications for marketers by bringing in data sets which were not deemed personal data earlier. Privacy policy and terms of use on websites have to be updated with immediate effect.

The second important factor is the clear enumeration of Rights of data subject. Some of the important ones are:

• Right of access: confirmation on whether or not personal data is being processed, the purpose of processing, categories of personal data and the recipients of the data
• Right to object: object to processing of personal data at any point of time if it was collected for public interest or legitimate interest of the data controller
• Right to erasure: ability to ask for deletion of personal data without undue delay
• Data portability: right to receive the personal data provided by data subject in a usable format and the right to transmit it to another data controller
• Automated individual decision making not to be subject to a decision solely based on automated processing and ask for human intervention (unless explicit consent was given, or it is authorized by law or is necessary for entering into or performance of a contract)

As we can see significant visibility and control is given to data subjects over their own data. Consent must be “freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous” and made by a statement or by a clear affirmative action. So pre-ticked “I agree” boxes will no longer work. Consumers have a right to ask for revoking data access, something that might have a huge impact on direct marketing companies. Asking for human intervention in algorithmic decision making is very forward looking and will have very interesting consequences vis a vis application of AI in marketing.

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