Since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect, media attention has predominantly focused with their news and releases on the multimillion-dollar fines imposed on tech giants such as Google and Facebook. No one has ever spent two words on the current Mario Rossi, which in fact does not exist in the collective imagination, because after all, only large corporations receive fines and not small professionals.
The decision to exclusively mention the sanctioning activities against these large corporations is mainly due to editorial choices and effective headlines capable of involving public opinion and interest, as well as finding paying clicks.
To stay on the subject, yesterday's news in which Facebook was fined for 1,2 billion euros is still fresh.
La Irish Data Protection Commission (Ie Dpa), come on task of the EU Data Protection Authority Edpb, Has fined Meta for 1,2 billion euros for violating European standards on data protection (Gdpr) with his social network Facebook. The penalty is the highest imposed by a data protection regulator in Europe.
Meta, who intends to appeal, was fined for "continuing to transfer personal data" of users from the European Economic Area to the United States in violation of the relevant European standards.
Meta it must also “suspend any transfer of personal data to the United States within five months” from the notification of the decision and must comply with the GDPR within six months.
This focus has created a false belief: the feeling, among many, is that privacy authorities, including the Italian Data Protection Authority, are primarily interested in sanctioning these massive corporations.
In fact, this couldn't be further from the truth.
The GDPR is a European regulation that aims to strengthen and unify data protection for all people within the European Union (EU). It replaces the 1995 data protection directive and introduces strict rules on data protection and data processing. It also provides for heavy penalties for violations, regardless of the size of the entity committing them.
But let's get back to our focus. In an era where Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions are increasingly popular, many small and medium-sized businesses, freelancers and even individuals use services that are not GDPR compliant.
For example, image optimization plugins relying on Content Delivery Networks (CDN) of companies based in the United States, without European branches, or hosting services based in San Francisco.
This is because many people mistakenly assume that fines for violating the GDPR only apply to large companies. Yet the truth is that these sanctions affect everyone, without exception.
At this point, a clarification should be made, as well as tangible proof of the above: there is in fact a website called Enforcement Tracker which gives an overview of the fines and penalties that data protection authorities within the EU have imposed under the GDPR. The aim is to keep the list as up-to-date as possible, even if not all fines are made public; thus, the list can never be complete.
Browsing the site and applying the filter for Italy, we see that 1844 sanctions have been registered for entities of all sizes: joint-stock companies, limited liability companies, freelancers and even individuals. Fines vary in amount, with many hovering around €1000. This is a clear indication that, if necessary, sanctions are applied to everyone, without distinction.
So, with this awareness, hopefully we can have a more realistic view of the problem than the one conveyed and implied by the media. It is essential to weigh each implementation decision, considering compliance with the GDPR as an indispensable requirement and not as a detail reserved only for the giants of the technology sector.
Remember, GDPR is serious business and penalties affect everyone. None excluded and even if you want to risk a violation of the same you must be well aware that the problem concerns you too.
