Statement: 3rd Anniversary of the GDPR

Three years ago, on 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation became applicable. The GDPR was meant to give rights to everyday people that are subject to data processing (“data subjects”). At noyb, we apply the GDPR from that user perspective every day. After three years, our first interim conclusion is mixed: The GDPR has clearly brought the issue to everyone’s attention, ensured that companies reviewed practices (often for the first time) and users became more aware that they have rights in the digital sphere. Privacy on Paper? Having rights and getting justice are two separate things: Just like under the previous rules in the Data Protection Directive from 1995 (the Directive 95/46) we are in a state where the EU has managed to issue a progressive law (if compared on a global scale). However, the Member States largely fail to enforce this new European legislation. This leads to “privacy on paper”, but not necessarily on users’ phones or computers. As an organization specia