The Conversation (0)
Kate Plummer
Oct 04, 2022
WhatsApp rewrites its Europe privacy policy after a record €225 million GDPR …
Indy
Brexit has finally paid off. Leaving the EU was all worth it. We should all thank the architects of the policy and clap them on the back.
Why? Because the government has vowed to remove us from the constraints of the horrible European 'GDPR' (General Data Protection Regulation) and make a new British data protection act for British people.
Thank goodness.
Culture secretary Michelle Donelan (who must be struggling to adjust to her new brief after such a long time as education secretary) announced the exciting news yesterday at the Tory party conference in Birmingham and while the Tories didn't automatically soar in the polls we can only assume that will happen, because it is a clear way to win hearts and minds.
"We will be replacing GDPR with our own business- and consumer-friendly British data protection system," she said.
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"I can promise ... that it will be simpler, it will be clearer, for businesses to navigate. No longer will our businesses be shackled by lots of unnecessary red tape," she added.
The EU’s data law, which was introduced in 2018, "ties them [businesses] in knots with clunky bureaucracy", she also said. "It is time we seize this post-Brexit opportunity fully and unleash the full growth potential of British business."
The audience reportedly cheered but people on social media were less impressed with the policy offering and sniped away, showing no gratitude at all - how dare they?
\u201cWhat a strange policy to be nationalistic about. Especially when technology is fundamentally a borderless sector. This is only going to hurt.\u201d— Lindiwe Mazibuko (@Lindiwe Mazibuko) 1664864858
\u201cThis British GDPR is a total waste of time\n\nNo company is going to focus its data compliance solely based on the wishes of one country\u201d— Louis \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \u3013\u3013 \ud83d\udc99 Defend the right to vote (@Louis \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \u3013\u3013 \ud83d\udc99 Defend the right to vote) 1664819973
\u201cBRITISH DATA FOR BRITISH WORKERS.\u201d— Tim Bale (@Tim Bale) 1664824952
\u201cNarrator\u2019s voice: now you have *two* sets of cookie systems and data protection regimes to worry about.\u201d— Charles Arthur (@Charles Arthur) 1664836185
\u201cAnd I want a South London system of data protection!!\n\nThis is all very silly stuff. Data protection, processing & sharing is an international issue now. Putting up national barriers and having your own oddities is just more Brexit red tape proliferation causing more headaches.\u201d— Mike Galsworthy (@Mike Galsworthy) 1664869441
\u201cI speak to a number of American companies that find they have to be GDPR compliant to trade with the EU and it\u2019s fine. So this new legislation is going to have to be GDPR compliant to work internationally. So isn\u2019t it easier and cheaper just to adopt GDPR?\u201d— Guy Clapperton (@Guy Clapperton) 1664871033
\u201cA good example of the Tories, British jingoism & Brexit.\n\nIt will not be as protective as GDPR, will be more expensive & will not be recognised as valid elsewhere. UK businesses will now need two systems: one for the UK & one for elsewhere. But we will have a BRITISH system.\u201d— Gerry Hassan \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Gerry Hassan \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1664870804
\u201cOmg of all the things to try and fix\u201d— Tom Peach (@Tom Peach) 1664864047
Scrapping GDPR... the phrase 'tidying the deckchairs on the Titanic' springs to mind.
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