Legislators and governments globally are starting to wake up to the implications of the digital revolution on individuals’ rights. This is exacerbated by the fact that choice is limited, as a small group of companies dominate the consumer space.

Chief Data Officer (CDO) roles are becoming increasingly popular, perhaps driven by a combination of the need for organisations to become more data-driven and regulatory pressures, such as GDPR.

<p>On the day the GDPR regulations came into force the UK regulator, Elizabeth Denham, told the BBC that enforcement would focus upon companies that &#8220;deliberately, persistently and negligently misuse data and that&#8217;s going to be the focus, that&#8217;s what people expect us to do&#8221;. In the same interview she implicitly recognised that things were not going to be perfect on day one.</p>

It does not matter whether you are running the country or running a business, one of the key challenges facing any organisation is to bridge the gap between policy and execution. Policy makers can sit in an ivory tower crafting well-thought through ideas into detailed policy, but it counts for nothing unless it can be executed meaningfully on the ground.

It is one thing to write a set of Data Protection policies and procedures.  It is another to get your staff to follow them.  The key to effective GDPR compliance is making sure people understand what it means to them day to day in their own jobs.

Privacy notices on websites are nothing new. In 2010 Facebook managed a level of notoriety when its Privacy policy was found to be longer than the US constitution. This is exactly the type of thing that GDPR sets out to tackle so I thought it might be worth looking at what it means to your privacy policy.

In an age of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence profiling using personal data is inevitable. Profiling is automated decision making based upon the data you hold about an individual. The accessibility of the data and ease of processing mean that more and more organisations will start using profiling.