First, a quick disclaimer of my own: I’m not a lawyer and the information in this newsletter isn’t legal advice. Rather, it contains a selection of information from various sources. If you need legal counsel, please consult an attorney.
This is Part II in this series and addresses the new GDPR and Privacy tools that WordPress is developing.
Overview of Part I
The GDPR (https://www.eugdpr.org/) becomes enforceable from May 25, 2018. It gives EU citizens control of their digital data by empowering them with the right to know when personal data is being collected, what data is being collected, access to that data, and to purge it on request. the legislation affects not only businesses and organizations operating in Europe, but also those ‘processing the personal data’ of people living in the European Union. Which includes most websites around the world.
For more details: click here to read Part I in this series
New WordPress GDPR & Privacy Tools
Quite a few of you have reached out to me after reading Part I in this series. There is nothing to be done at this point except to be aware that changes will need to be made to most websites once the new tools have been released by WordPress.
Once the new tools have been released, I’ll be available to get these setup and running on your site.
Items that may need to be implemented:
- Privacy policy with site-specific cookie collection information
- Privacy consent checkboxes on all website forms (such as contact forms)
- Cookie notice
- User access to personal data collected (primarily sites that accept comments, have user login area(s), run a forum, and/or have online stores)
If your website is informational (does not accept comments, no online store, no user login, no forum, etc…) then you may only need to implement items 1-3 above—WordPress is working on making this a simple as possible.
Tools Currently in Development
The WordPress development team is actively working on the new tools to address GDPR Compliance and privacy in general.
Some Items Being Developed For Release (still no ETA):
- Tool to create GDPR-ready privacy notices
- Tools to access, export, delete all personal data and anonymize published/public content (like posts, comments, etc.)
- Tools for commenters and registered users
- Documentation/help for site owners on how to use the new tools
Roadmap and details regarding the new tools: click here