Reflection On Computer Society Lecture: European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation

I attended the Irish Computer Society Lecture and learned what it is about and how being a member can help you.

I learned about the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation of which I did not have any pre-existing knowledge about before this lecture. I learned some extremely interesting and important facts about the history of the old Irish Data Protection act and about the new EU GDPR act that is replacing it.

I learned what happened in one internet minute and I was both blown away and not surprised at the exchange of information that can take place which I thought was incredible fascinating and it made me wonder what numbers it will have in a decade when even more people have greater access to the internet.

I learned more about the reason for the GPDR’s existence and what powers it gives consumers which I found were quite limited with the IDP act which I shocked me when I learned about it. I learned about the rights that consumers have with the GDPR and what companies who use consumers data can actually do with my personal information which I found was an incredible amount before the GDPR which I found quite unacceptable.

I learned about the principles of which the GDPR is made up of 7 principles which made me satisfied when I learned more about how businesses that use my data must conduct themselves and safeguard my personal data from theft and misuse.

I learned more about the enforcement of the GDPR and how companies who don’t abide by or even break its rules can now be heavily fined for non-compliance which I reassured me that my data is being safely stored which has always worried me because of the regular occurrence of data breaches that have been happening these last few years.

Conclusion

The biggest conclusion that I reached from this lecture on the GDPR is that I did not know any of this information before it and that shocked and appalled me because of how vital this information is for all people to know and I believe that as a country their needs to be more steps to help people become more aware of their rights when it comes to their data. I realised that it is especially important now in this modern age where peoples data is worth so much to big companies who can then abuse this information any way they like to earn money which I find disgusting and wrong and I hope that legislation such as the GDPR will continue to protect the information of all citizens under the EU.