International Data Privacy Day 2020

Please visit our resources page for International Data Privacy Day 2021, where you will find our more up-to-date content, including a new version of the Periodic Table of Data Privacy, and a review of the impact of Brexit on international data flows.

Since its launch in 2006, every year on the 28th January, the entire privacy community across the world celebrates Data Privacy Day, known as Data Protection Day in Europe.

Why is Data Privacy Day needed?

It’s estimated that in 2019 there were at least 7.9 billion records exposed through data breaches. The exposed data records included email addresses, phone numbers, credit numbers, even home addresses, as well as other sensitive data. Not only does this leave individuals open to fraud and identity theft, but it also leaves businesses open to significant fines, negative headlines and poor reputation.

Not even two years since it came into effect in May 2018, there have been 182 GDPR fines issued across Europe, with a combined total of over €104 million.

Headlines have focused on the big fines issued to big name companies such as Google, but it must not be forgotten that they have also been handed to smaller SMEs who have failed to protect their customers’ data and their rights under GDPR’s requirements.

31%

of data records stolen result in identity theft

€104,000,000

in GDPR fines

Organizations’ failures to adhere to their obligations typically stem from one of two shortcomings: outright ignorance of applicable legislation or that they are in scope, or overconfidence in their current adherence.

Both of these come down to the same thing: insufficient awareness.

This is why Data Privacy Day is so important. The international day is used to increase awareness of data privacy for not only data subjects, so they understand their rights to privacy, but also to both remind businesses of their data privacy obligations, and encourage them to check the current health of their compliance.

As part of our duty to contribute to supporting users and businesses alike, we have built a dedicated resource centre for Data Privacy Day, including new content to keep you updated, informed and most importantly, more aware of the critical nuances of Data Privacy.

Data Privacy Day Resource Centre

The Data Privacy Day resource centre is for privacy professionals as well as those dealing with privacy within their organisations. It includes unique analysis and infographics, as well as new practical guides alongside key industry observations we’re seeing from our client engagements.

1- The Periodic Table of Data Privacy

We’ve updated one of our most popular resources – The Data Privacy Periodic Table. This is a unique initiative that showcases all the “key elements” of data privacy. It’s an open and collaborative project, so these updates include contributions from the wider privacy community, including CCPA, discussions about US federal privacy laws, COPPA and Schrems II.

2- GDPR – an ethical stake in the ground or simply a handbook to compliance?

Our new visualization shows an Article-by-Article analysis of GDPR and provides a behind-the-scenes understanding of the context of the regulation.

3- Brexit & GDPR – Forget Deal or No Deal it’s all about Adequacy now

Back in October, we looked at the UK’s changing relationship with the EU and how Brexit will impact UK businesses’ ability to interact with data. We’ve now updated our flowchart to reflect how vital data Adequacy is for the UK, how long it takes and what businesses will need to do if it’s granted or not.

4- AI and Data Privacy – what’s the answer?

In light of multiple high-profile speeches at the World Economic Forum in Davos accelerating the discussion about how AI can operate ethically in a more privacy-aware world, we show the merits of Privacy by Design to AI initiative – and numerous others.