Organizations risk huge fines for violating privacy legislation
Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2024 10:07 am
The government advises organizations to be very frugal with the recording of personal data. Trading personal data is now prohibited in most Western countries and personalized marketing is becoming increasingly difficult. For this reason, organizations – certainly public service providers, but also organizations such as banks and insurers – adhere very strongly to privacy legislation today. Most organizations now have a privacy officer or even an entire compliance department. These employees monitor whether the organization complies with the privacy rules. Of course, they do this primarily because they are convinced that customers find this important.
Organizations are aware of the importance of consumer trust. Policymakers are focused on data security. But they certainly also do it because high fines are now being issued if austria phone number library organizations do not comply with the rules. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) was established for this reason.
High fines for companies
Organizations caught in a data breach face large fines. The Dutch Data Protection Authority can fine organizations that violate the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) up to 20 million euros or 4% of the global annual turnover. And the AP is already quite active. Recently, the OLVG hospital was fined 440,000 euros for not having adequate security measures regarding patient data. Booking.com was fined 475,000 euros for not reporting a data breach in time. The fact that criminals had gained access to customer data was only reported to the AP 22 days after the 72-hour deadline.
The big danger is that the privacy paradox could ultimately result in a backlash on the relationship that the consumer has with the organization. People expect organizations to handle their data in an ethically responsible way. These expectations are based on trust and on the social contract that the consumer has with the organization. If trust is damaged, this will lead to frustration and irritation among customers. And ultimately to a dent in or termination of the relationship.
This phenomenon became clear from a study of Android applications . Users thought that privacy protection would be better arranged for paid applications than for free applications. That turned out not to be the case.
Organizations are aware of the importance of consumer trust. Policymakers are focused on data security. But they certainly also do it because high fines are now being issued if austria phone number library organizations do not comply with the rules. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) was established for this reason.
High fines for companies
Organizations caught in a data breach face large fines. The Dutch Data Protection Authority can fine organizations that violate the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) up to 20 million euros or 4% of the global annual turnover. And the AP is already quite active. Recently, the OLVG hospital was fined 440,000 euros for not having adequate security measures regarding patient data. Booking.com was fined 475,000 euros for not reporting a data breach in time. The fact that criminals had gained access to customer data was only reported to the AP 22 days after the 72-hour deadline.
The big danger is that the privacy paradox could ultimately result in a backlash on the relationship that the consumer has with the organization. People expect organizations to handle their data in an ethically responsible way. These expectations are based on trust and on the social contract that the consumer has with the organization. If trust is damaged, this will lead to frustration and irritation among customers. And ultimately to a dent in or termination of the relationship.
This phenomenon became clear from a study of Android applications . Users thought that privacy protection would be better arranged for paid applications than for free applications. That turned out not to be the case.