TOBY SHAPSHAK: The privacy laws that will change our lives
One day we will all be grateful that Europe’s GDPR will claw back our own privacy
In the past two weeks your inbox will probably have been bombarded with e-mails requesting you to agree to new privacy rules about your personal data. It may be the first time you’ve seen the acronym GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) but it won’t be the last. These EU regulations about how businesses handle personal data are a significant step in regaining control of our data and privacy. In the face of an unprecedented invasion of our privacy — highlighted by Cambridge Analytica harvesting 87m Facebook users’ data to manipulate the 2016 US presidental elections and the Brexit vote — the EU has emerged as an unlikely hero. EU functionaries in Brussels have often been accused of being small-minded bureaucrats for a range of seemingly pointless legislation, including on the curvature of a banana. The EU itself claims talk of its dislike for "bendy bananas" was "the myth to end all myths" and that "straight and bendy [bananas] are not banned by the EU" but, to maintain quality,...
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