[ATTW-L] General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) / Data Protection Authority ruling will pressure changes in digital data management

[Chris Lindgren]

Hi everyone,

The Austrian Data Protection Authority just ruled that IP addresses and
identifiers in cookie data are a visitor’s personal data, so Google
Analytics, which uses this info, is now subject to European Union's GDPR
<https://gdpr-info.eu/> enforceability. (see this article about the ruling
<https://www.pymnts.com/google/2022/ruling-google-analytics-violates-privacy-law/>
.)

This ruling is part of a pattern of EU GDPR policy implications that US
companies will increasingly need to start designing for from the onset of
any tech project.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

“While there are many [analytic] alternatives that are hosted in Europe or
can be self-hosted, many websites rely on Google [Analytics] and thereby
forward their user data to the US multinational,” the group said. “*The
fact that data protection authorities may now gradually declare US services
illegal, puts additional pressure on EU companies and US providers to move
towards safe and legal options, like hosting outside of the US**.*”
(emphasis mine)


These moments have sparked my own rationale for teaching my documentation
course with a sharp focus on the Privacy By Design/Default movement and the
GDPR, despite being in the U.S. I think TPC can bring a proactive,
social-justice advocacy approach that centers user privacy and agency.

See chapter 3 of GDPR - "Rights of the data subject
<https://gdpr-info.eu/chapter-3/>" to draw curricular inspiration!

Best,

Chris
--
Chris Lindgren, Ph.D. | clndgrn.com
(he/him/his)
Assistant Professor of Technical Communication & Data Visualization
Department of English
Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech is situated on the traditional lands of the Tutelo/Monacan
Peoples. Whose land are you on? <https://native-land.ca/>
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