Business

Why do Big Businesses Conflict with Growing Data Privacy Legislation?

Various countries and regions have privacy legislation that operates within their regions and looks after their citizens in other regions. However, multi data privacy legislation puts businesses in a tough spot and opens them to a high chance of defying privacy laws. 

Had there been a unified law, businesses wouldn’t bother adjusting to the divergent national policies. Therefore, keeping up with multi privacy laws and their provisional differences is why big businesses conflict with data privacy legislation. 

After using Google Analytics on its website, a French business recently had an issue with the Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL). The CNIL accused the business of flouting the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), the European Union’s major privacy law. 

According to the CNIL, the business violated the law provisions in Article 44 regarding the sharing of personal information with countries that do not have equivalent privacy protection provisions in their laws. Even though the United States has several privacy laws, their provisions do not directly match the EU privacy laws.

Similarly, there is a tendency for the activities of big businesses in America to conflict with any of its three major privacy legislation. These legislations are CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) amended by CPRA (California Privacy Rights Act), VCDPA (Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act), and CPA (Colorado Privacy Act). 

The EU’s Data Anonymity Policy

Even though small businesses can conflict to data privacy legislation, big businesses make the higher percentage. This is because big businesses often have numerous branches and might even do as much as spread into other countries. Therefore, managing workflows, procedures, human resources, and adapting to privacy laws that are alien to them could be arduous. 

In the case of the French business mentioned earlier, Google claimed that the information received from the business’ website was anonymized, which is more like transferring user insight and not user identity. However, the CNIL didn’t buy this because it was still of the opinion that unique identifiers were assigned to users’ data. Therefore, the body thought that users who owned those pieces of personal information would be recognized.

This privacy issue led to Google Analytics’ ban on the local French website. However, the tool is placed under a more stringent order to only transfer data across regions in complete anonymity and statistical forms. Moreover, members of the European Union might be stopped from using the services of Google Analytics.

The Effects of Violating Data Privacy Legislation

The law expects full compliance at all times. Therefore, violating privacy laws cannot be excused even when it is ignorance. Unfortunately, as we all know, the law does not pardon ignorance. In addition, privacy laws punish both intended and unintended violations. Therefore, businesses must acquire legal knowledge on several data privacy laws that concern them and their customers.

For instance, an intentional violation of the CCPA attracts a penalty sum of $7,500. On the contrary, an unintentional infringement attracts $2,500. So, if a business breaks two law provisions involuntarily, that would be $5,000.

In the European Union, violating some GDPR provisions can attract a fine of up to €20 million or 4% of a business’ total worldwide annual revenue of the preceding financial year. In addition, violating data protection and data security provisions of the GDPR can cost companies up to €10 million or 2% of their total worldwide annual revenue in the preceding financial year.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) penalizes businesses for breaking its privacy, security, and breach notification rules. This privacy law divides its penalties into four categories (Tier 1-4). Tier 1 is a violation a business was aware of but could not avoid even if it showed care to abide by the rules of the HIPAA law. The fine ranges between $100 to $50,000 per violation.

Tier 2 violations are those businesses should have noticed but could not have avoided even if they showed care. The minimum fine per violation is $1,000, while the maximum is $50,000. Tier 3 violation is intended neglect of HIPPA rules, and a correction attempt is made afterward. The fine is between $10,000 and $50,000 per violation. Tier 4 is the same as tier 3, and it’s just that no correction attempt is made. It attracts $50,000 per violation. 

To avoid conflicting with privacy laws and facing violation penalties, big businesses must orient themselves to the provisions of those laws. However, you don’t have to worry about doing that anymore because Zendata can help you with all the paperwork regarding privacy legislation.

Christopher Stern

Christopher Stern is a Washington-based reporter. Chris spent many years covering tech policy as a business reporter for renowned publications. He has extensive experience covering Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commissions. He is a graduate of Middlebury College. Email:[email protected]

Related Articles

Back to top button