{"id":14100,"date":"2018-05-18T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/honeybook.site.strattic.io\/?p=14100"},"modified":"2022-08-14T06:40:23","modified_gmt":"2022-08-14T13:40:23","slug":"how-to-prepare-your-creative-business-for-the-gdpr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hbb.dev.reliablepenguin.com\/blog\/how-to-prepare-your-creative-business-for-the-gdpr","title":{"rendered":"How to Prepare your Creative Business for the GDPR"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By now, chances are you\u2019ve heard that the GDPR will be taking effect on May 25th<\/sup>. And if you hadn\u2019t heard that yet, consider this your official heads up\u2014if you have a business that \u201cservices\u201d any citizen of the EU, this law applies to you. Unless you can absolutely guarantee that no users from the EU will ever find their way to your website, you\u2019ll need to set up a GDPR notice and compliant consent measures.<\/p>\n

What is the GDPR? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The GDPR is a sweeping new security measure that is designed to protect the privacy of citizens in the EU. It gives them control over exactly how their personal data is processed, including how data is collected, stored, and used.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s admittedly a pain to acquaint ourselves with such a dense new law, but it\u2019s important to understand why this legislation was passed: for the enhanced security of personal information online. With the constant stream of news about hacked websites and shady companies selling data, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if this is just the first step of many that the world will take to protect online personal data.<\/p>\n

Why Should I Care if I’m Not an EU Citizen? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The GDPR protects EU users, but applies to any business that collects personal data of EU users. You may be thinking to yourself, \u201cwell that\u2019s fine, but I don\u2019t have any EU clients, so I\u2019m in the clear!\u201d Not quite. Do you have an email list with any EU members on it? Do you know if EU citizens have ever left a comment on your site, or if you have processed their information via Google Analytics? You probably can\u2019t say for certain, so just be cautious and assume that the GDPR applies to you. Better safe than sorry.<\/p>\n

A more practical reason why you should care? Noncompliance will mean you are liable for very, very hefty fines. The maximum penalty for noncompliance with the GDPR is 4% of the annual global revenue generated by the company.<\/p>\n

What’s Covered by the GDPR? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Simply put, the GDPR will govern how you may process the data of EU members. \u201cProcessing\u201d, in this sense, can be defined as \u201cdoing anything with that data\u201d. For you, this means that the GDPR will govern anything you do with the personal data you collect from EU users (by \u201cusers\u201d, I mean users of your website).<\/p>\n

What counts as \u201cpersonal data\u201d?<\/h3>\n

Basically, \u201cpersonal data\u201d is anything that can identify the user or monitor what they are doing. It commonly includes:<\/p>\n