Ever since the European Union introduced their GDPR privacy laws earlier this year, websites have been required to be more direct about the online data they collect from visitors.

We're still coming to terms with the ramifications of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If you don't run a website, it's a lot less complicated. If you do... well, you might be surprised to learn it's not just the obvious things you have to worry about. Take something as simple as the fonts you use — if they're served via Google Fonts, you could be in breach.

The GDPR became active last Friday, bringing with is a wide swathe of changes that impact how personal data is handled in the European Union. EU citizens have to be specifically asked when personal data is collected and they have the right to be forgotten by companies that collect their data. But one of the effects of this is that website operators are changing what they do.

Maybe you've heard someone mention GDPR in passing, but were too embarrassed to ask what those letters actually stood for. Or maybe your friend posted something online about what GDPR means for online data protection. At the very least, you've probably received a few dozen emails from various companies about how their updated their privacy policies comply with the new law.

The big new European data-privacy law known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is here, and it's ushered in a host of changes to the way companies treat your personal information.

Pretty much every online service I've ever signed up for has sent me at least one email over the last month, letting me know of "important changes" to their privacy policy and data handling procedures. When I wrote about this a few weeks ago, I said that this was generally a good thing as it indicated the General Data Protection Rules (GDPR), that come into effect this Friday in the EU, had raised the privacy bar. But it turn out the emails themselves might not be legal.

Even though Australian companies don't have to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) when it comes into effect on Friday, that doesn't make it irrelevant. But compliance with the GDPR, our own National Data Breach (NBD) notification laws and updated privacy laws being introduced in New Zealand is not enough to ensure your systems and users are safe in today's threat landscape.

Apple has removed a number of apps from the App Store and sent a letter to developers as they clamp down on apps that collect location data. Although Apple has rules in their App Store Review Guidelines about this, they are now enforcing the rules more strictly.

The Whois registry is a vestige of a bygone era. Back in the days when we could all trust each other, it was a public register of who had registered a domain and some basic contact details. But over the years it has been abused by spammers and others. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the overseer of DNS and the Whois registry has been working with the European Union's Data Protection Working Party but won't have a solution in place the makes Whois compliant with the GDPR.

As we count the weeks down to the formal commencement of the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, companies all over the world are revising their privacy statements and other related information. That's because the European Union has specified, in some detail, how Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is to be managed, what rights we have and some severe consequences for not following the new laws. So, in the changed statements, what should you look for?

Next month, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect in the European Union. This is probably the most comprehensive set of privacy protections for individuals and is accompanied by the strongest penalties on the planet. So, are we surprised that Facebook has reorganised things so 1.5 billion users, including Australians, will no longer be protected by these tougher regulations?

The European Union has always favoured the protection of personal privacy over the rights of governments and law enforcement to snoop on our data. Their regulations for the protection of Personal Identifiable Information (PII) have been among the strongest in the world. But, new rules, under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which were adopted in April this year become enforceable on 25 May 2018. What does this mean for Australian businesses?

As the amount of data we store (hoard?) increases it becomes harder to know exactly what we have. And if we don't know what data we have, it becomes challenging to know what we are protecting. Amazon Macie is a new service that uses machine learning algorithms for natural language processing to automate data classification S3 buckets.

Anyone handling the personal information of an EU citizen needs to get their head around the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Under these new laws that take effect in May 2018, companies will face stiff penalties if they breach rules designed to hand control of PII back to citizens. Microsoft says the Creators Update is compliant with the GDPR.