Our policy is to respect all laws that apply to our business and this includes GDPR. We also appreciate that you have requirements under GDPR that are directly impacted by your use of products and services developed or provided by backapck.io. We are committed to helping our partners stay in compliance with GDPR and their local requirements.
Being a data processor for our partners, we’ve spent a lot of resources recently to implement the necessary changes to our back office and front end solutions, based on the GDPR requirements, so you’ll be able to meet the high standard for data privacy introduced by this regulation.
We have added those new tabs to Account Settings Widget:
Safety & Security – allow users to request account deletion or export his personal info.
Privacy Center – allow users to approve multiple privacy consents.
What is GDPR? And how did we help you to be GDPR ready?
The aim of the GDPR is to protect all EU citizens from privacy and data breaches in an increasingly data-driven world that is vastly different from the time in which the 1995 directive was established. Although the key principles of data privacy still hold true to the previous directive, many changes have been proposed to the regulatory policies; the key points of the GDPR as well as information on the impacts it will have on business can be found below.
What changes did we make to help you become GDPR ready?
Breach Notification: Under the GDPR, breach notification will become mandatory in all member states where a data breach is likely to “result in a risk for the rights and freedoms of individuals”. This must be done within 72 hours of first having become aware of the breach. Data processors will also be required to notify their customers, the controllers, “without undue delay” after first becoming aware of a data breach.
Steps Taken by Backpack.io To Comply: We’ve updated our internal policies and procedures to ensure all relevant staff is aware of the required timeframe for notification in case of data breach.
Right to Access: Part of the expanded rights of data subjects outlined by the GDPR is the right for data subjects to obtain from the data controller confirmation as to whether or not personal data concerning them is being processed, where and for what purpose. Further, the controller shall provide a copy of the personal data, free of charge, in an electronic format. This change is a dramatic shift to data transparency and empowerment of data subjects.
Steps Taken by Backpack.io To Comply: We’ve developed a new set of consent forms, informing the end user of all the different usages of his personal data.
Right to be Forgotten: Also known as Data Erasure, the right to be forgotten entitles the data subject to have the data controller erase his/her personal data, cease further dissemination of the data, and potentially have third parties halt processing of the data. The conditions for erasure, as outlined in article 17, include the data no longer being relevant to original purposes for processing, or a data subjects withdrawing consent. It should also be noted that this right requires controllers to compare the subjects’ rights to “the public interest in the availability of the data” when considering such requests.
Steps Taken by backpack.io To Comply: We’ve developed a new system-wide mechanism added to account settings, allowing the end user to request a complete removal of his personal data from our servers. Once this request is being approved by the partner, the user’s personal data will be removed from the database, keeping the account blocked, frozen and hidden from all reports and databases. All non-personal information is kept under the account for accounting and operational purposes.
Data Portability: GDPR introduces data portability – the right for a data subject to receive the personal data concerning them, which they have previously provided in a ‘commonly use and machine readable format’ and have the right to transmit that data to another controller.
Steps Taken by Backpack.io To Comply: We developed an export mechanisms that will allow the end user to export a report of all his personal data.
Privacy by Design: Privacy by design as a concept has existed for years now, but it is only just becoming part of a legal requirement with the GDPR. At it’s core, privacy by design calls for the inclusion of data protection from the onset of the designing of systems, rather than an addition.
Steps Taken by backpack.io To Comply: We’ve implemented new policies internally, allowing only specific personnel the access to view personal information, and only if their position justify it.
Data Protection Officers: Currently, controllers are required to notify their data processing activities with local DPAs, which, for multinationals, can be a bureaucratic nightmare with most Member States having different notification requirements. Under GDPR it will not be necessary to submit notifications / registrations to each local DPA of data processing activities, nor will it be a requirement to notify / obtain approval for transfers based on the Model Contract Clauses (MCCs). Instead, there will be internal record keeping requirements, as further explained below, and DPO appointment will be mandatory only for those controllers and processors whose core activities consist of processing operations which require regular and systematic monitoring of data subjects on a large scale or of special categories of data or data relating to criminal convictions and offence.
Steps Taken by Backpack.io To Comply: We appointed an external KPMG consultant as a professional DPO.
If you would like to learn more about the changes we’ve made to our system, and how you can use them to become GDPR ready, please email us at privacy@backpack.io.
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