Introduction
GDPR Data Protection Principles With the widespread use of social media and telephones, it doesn’t take much to gather all of your personal information swiftly. Additionally, while you sign up only for a piece of information, you have no idea who or what organization is keeping your data or what they plan to use it for. Your identifiable data, such as your name, address, email address, computer’s location, race, age, and sexual orientation, might be sold to third parties.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is legislation that regulates how businesses handle customer data.
Article 5(1) of the regulation contains seven principles to ensure that every data organization is fully aware of what the data protection rules mean and their legal responsibilities in relation to GDPR compliance.
1. Lawfulness, Fairness and Transparency
There should always be a valid reason behind any processing of personal data and the processing must not violate any law. This idea is referred to as lawfulness in GDPR. Article 6 of GDPR gives 6 lawful bases for processing. You may process data for the following reasons:
- i. You are permitted to do so by the user.
- ii. It is necessary to fulfil a deal, thus you must do it.
- iii. You must comply with a legal requirement.
- iv. To defend an individual’s fundamental rights.
- v. The mission is one that the public is paying for.
- vi. You can demonstrate that your interest is valid and unaffected.
Fairness means forbidding improper use or management of the data that has been collected.
Fairness and transparency go hand in hand; transparency is defined as being transparent, open, and honest with data subjects about who you are, why, and how you are processing their personal data.
2. Purpose Limitation
The second GDPR principle places restrictions on the use of data for only particular purposes. According to the GDPR, data is only “collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate reasons” when it is limited in this way.
Unless the data controller has a clear obligation or function specified in the law, he must specifically obtain consent each time he intends to use the data he has acquired for a purpose that is inconsistent with the initial purpose.
3. Data Minimization
A Data Controller must gather the minimum quantity of information necessary to achieve the goals of processing. The GDPR’s premise of data minimization is as follows. For instance, you should just request the information essential to send out your email newsletter if you want to acquire subscribers.
4. Accuracy
The GDPR states that “every reasonable step must be taken” to securely erase or modify data that is incomplete or inaccurate. The data should be corrected, modified, and updated as and when necessary and inaccurate data that is no longer needed must be securely erased. For example, customers may switch jobs, change emails, or their contact details. When the customer updates his address or contact details, they must be modified in company records to ensure the accuracy of the content. Thus, the company must ensure that every reasonable step is taken to update, change or erase inaccurate customer data.
5. Storage Limitation
This principle states that the data which has reached its end of life must be destroyed. If the purpose for which data was initially collected has been met, then it should no longer exist in company records. This is a crucial privacy principle as any gap in this could often lead to breaches and disastrously impact any business. For example, suppose a company that publishes digital magazines had a customer who left their subscription without renewing it. In that case, the company no longer should be holding the customer’s financial information. It should completely wipe such information from the company records to uphold the GDPR privacy principle.
6. Integrity and Confidentiality
In essence, organizational and technical measures must be adopted to keep the gathered data secure from internal and external threats in accordance with the GDPR’s requirements for maintaining data integrity and confidentiality. Planning and being diligently proactive are required. You must guard against the unintentional loss, deletion, or damage of data as well as from its unauthorized or unlawful processing.
7. Accountability
The supervisory authorities are aware that a company may claim to follow all laws while in fact not doing so. Thus, they demand a certain level of accountability: As evidence that you are following the data processing principles, you must have the necessary safeguards and records in place. It is always possible for supervisory authorities to request this proof and the Data controllers must be able to demonstrate compliance with the above 6 principles.
Conclusion:
The GDPR principles provide a framework for organizations to comply with the legislation. The importance of these principles lies in their ability to protect individual’s privacy rights and ensure that organizations are responsible for how they collect, use, and store personal data. By complying with these principles, organizations can build trust with their customers and avoid costly fines and reputational damage associated with GDPR violations.
