Make sense of GDPR puzzle — forewarned is forearmed

Image via Mohamed Hassan/pxhere

"I guess if you keep making the same mistake long enough, it becomes your style" - John Prine

I was interested to read an article in the Irish Examiner recently that there were 6,802 data breaches of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) reported to the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) over the past year. The report stated this was the sixth-highest level of breach notifications across Europe, and the fourth highest on a per capita basis.

The law firm DLA Piper reported a 594% year-on-year increase in fines imposed for GDPR breaches across Europe.

With the cost of fines running into billions of euro, the question has to be asked: how is this still happening? 

In 2021, as part of the Workplace Issues in Technical and Professional Communication module on the Technical Communication and E-Learning degree programme at the University of Limerick, I created an online presentation on the subject of GDPR. In one of my script's lines, I stated: 

"Data controllers have to be able to demonstrate they are GDPR compliant. And this isn’t something you can do after the fact: If you think you are compliant with the GDPR but can’t show how, then you’re not GDPR compliant. This is a big issue for companies."

It is clear 'big issue' is quite an understatement. The problem is growing out of control in the European workplace. Companies fret "after the fact" about GDPR compliance, yet they can all find the answers in front of them. If data controllers are aware of their obligations and adhere to them, no issues will arise. 

GDPR has now been in operation for almost four years. Businesses must put increased emphasis on educating their employees on regulation. Mistakes can be made on GDPR compliance, but firms can keep them to a minimum. 

As students of technical communication, I believe the focus on data compliance creates opportunities to make the most of knowledge of GDPR in workplace situations. This area of employment is likely to see increased roles for data controllers or data managers in companies and in government. There will also likely be increased virtual roles and a market for increased development of online courses in data management. 

We can expect to hear about many more companies getting tied up in costly bureaucratic knots about GDPR compliance in the years ahead. 

But with GDPR, it's always a case of forewarned is forearmed.