Category: Privacy

I have made no secret of my distain for the ‘GDPR Practitioner Certification‘ badge, and I still have no time for it, or its recipients who pass it off as real-world experience. But what alternatives are there if you want to obtain some form of data protection certification / privacy education?

The de facto standard, and really the only player in town, is the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), and their flagship badge, the Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP), is the most widely recognised and respected acronym you can add to your CV/resume. It’s the equivalent of the CISSP for those of us in the cybersecurity industry.

Continue reading “How Valid Can the IAPP’s Certifications Be?” →

I have made no secret of my distain (bordering on disgust) for anyone using the GDPR’s ‘administrative fines’ to further their own ends. Whether the ends are selling products, services, or column inches, trying to scare organisations into parting with their hard-earned cash is totally unacceptable and I only hope that most of them have failed.

That said, it is clear from Google (€50M), British Airways (€200+M), and Marriott (€110+M) that enormous fines are now a reality for organisations who egregiously break the law. And make no mistake, they ARE breaking the law. A law that enforces one of OUR fundamental human right.

Continue reading “GDPR: Here Come the Big[ger] Fines” →

I was actually chuckling to myself as I wrote that title because I know you were thinking [the equivalent of] one of the following as you clicked on the link:

  • If you have not read the GDPR: “That would be awesome!”
  • If you have read the GDPR: “Don’t be so bloody stupid.”
Continue reading “Does ISO 27001 Certification Give You Immunity From GDPR Fines?” →

The title should actually be more in question form; Did you know that there’s even a difference between being erased and being forgotten?

Article 17 of the GDPR is “Right to erasure (‘right to be forgotten’)“, which suggests they are the same thing. They are not [quite], and I think the only reason the right to be forgotten was added in brackets is because everyone was already calling it that. But it’s just not accurate …enough.

Continue reading “GDPR: The Right to Erasure Does Not Always Mean Forgotten” →

Just about every major news outlet in the UK has the same headline for the BA data breach: “BA faces record £500M fine for data breach!“. Some are not content with even this degree of utter nonsense and are actually making things worse by saying that affected passengers are now “threatening boycott“.

Continue reading “BA Faces £500M Fine: Shut Up and Get Your FACTS Straight!” →