Recently, the U.S. Congress voted to overturn a pending regulation that would require Internet service providers (ISPs) to obtain people’s permission before selling their data about them. President Trump then signed the rollback.

As reported by NPR.org:

“This is a victory for ISPs, which have argued that the regulation would put them at a disadvantage compared with providers like Google and Facebook. Those firms are regulated by the FTC and face less stringent requirements. ISPs collect huge amounts of data on Web sites people visit, including medical, financial, and other personal information. The FCC regulation would have required ISPs to ask permission before selling that information to advertisers and others, a so-called opt-in provision.”

In contrast to the U.S. approach, Europe has a sweeping new regulation taking effect in May 2018. It will impact companies based anywhere, including the United States.

Brian Wallace, reporting for CMS Wire, describes the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR), thusly. Be sure to read the material highlighted:

“The European Parliament passed the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR) in April 2016. It is one of the most sweeping privacy laws protecting citizens ever, and is scheduled to take effect on May 25, 2018. One of the most misunderstood things about this law is that it covers EU citizens, no matter which country the firm using it is located. This means any company in the world that stores EU citizen protected data has less than a year to come into compliance with the GDPR.“

According to the GDPR’s Web site, “The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens data privacy, and to reshape the way firms across the region approach privacy. The GDPR protects personal data and sensitive personal data. This includes sensitive data: name, location, identification numbers, IP address, cookies, RFID info; and sensitive personal data: health data, genetic data, biometric data, racial or ethnic data, political opinions, and sexual orientation.“

 
Take a look at the following infographic from Digital Guardian to learn more! Click the image for a larger version.