A year ago, the European Union passed a law known as the General Data Protection Regulation, commonly known by its acronym GDPR. Companies and agencies are finding themselves in a place where they must treat data in a better fashion at the expense of a heavy fine. Susan Wiseman, SVP Legal, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Braze, penned a piece for the Braze where she explains how the law shaped her work.

“That means we’re living in a new world ---- one that says people have a right to know what data you’ve collected about them, what you’re doing with it, where you’re storing it, how long you’re keeping it, and who you’re sharing it with. Consumers have a right to control their own data and to tell you to stop processing it, collecting it, or using it.” Throughout this piece, Susan is painting the image of a law passed to fix the problems that customers face today as the market became more complex, with tons of data floating around and companies running amok with all that information. “And in today’s boundary-free world, companies that haven’t embraced this new model are bound to run into a wall of consequences, from fines to class-action lawsuits to a cold shoulder from  organizations who won’t work with a vendor that hasn’t embraced this new reality.”In addition, with the passage of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), a number of companies in the U.S. that do not message people in the EU are now finding themselves up against a rigid privacy regime within the borders of the US. We are aware of at least 16 states that have introduced measures similar to the CCPA, as well as several bills at the federal level seeking to enact sweeping privacy regimes within the United States.” 

She concludes her piece by praising these types of laws will benefit the consumers, who can finally reclaim their data and its usage, thus forcing companies to become more transparent and more ethical in their application of the data in their never-ending pursuit of customers.