Whois vs GDPR, latest news

Wed May 23 17:12:49 UTC 2018

> On May 23, 2018, at 11:05 AM, K. Scott Helms <kscotthelms at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Yep, if you're doing a decent job around securing data then you don't have much to be worried about on that side of things.  The problem for most companies is that GDPR isn't really a security law, it's a privacy law (and set of regulations).  That's where it's hard because there are a limited number of ways you can, from the EU's standpoint, lawfully process someone's PII.  Things like opting out and blanket agreements to use all of someone's data for any reason a company may want are specifically prohibited.  Even companies that don't intentionally sell into the EU (or the UK) can find themselves dealing with this if they have customers with employees in the EU. 

Or if someone who is a U.S. citizen and resident goes to the org's U.S.-based website and orders something (or even just provides their PII)... but happens to be in a plane flying over an EU country at the time.  Because GDPR doesn't talk about residence or citizenship, it talks only about a vague and ambiguous "in the Union", and I can certainly envision an argument in which the person in the plane claims that they were, technically, "in the Union" at the time. 

Anne

Anne P. Mitchell, 
Attorney at Law
GDPR Compliance Consultant
Author: Section 6 of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (the Federal anti-spam law)
Legislative Consultant
CEO/President, Institute for Social Internet Public Policy
Legal Counsel: The CyberGreen Institute
Legal Counsel: The Earth Law Center
Member, California Bar Association
Member, Cal. Bar Cyberspace Law Committee
Member, Colorado Cyber Committee
Member, Board of Directors, Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop
Ret. Professor of Law, Lincoln Law School of San Jose
Ret. Chair, Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop