Though the landscape of marketing websites and website development has matured remarkably over the past 23 years, we’ve seen a much more profound shift in the 24 months.
In addition to accessibility compliance becoming a real concern for even small businesses, privacy and data protection are taking center stage — and not just for ecommerce companies.
In part this is due to a broadening of the definition of PII — personally identifiable information — to now include far more than credit cards and social security numbers.
It’s also a result of increased awareness that has lead to legislation here in the U.S. and abroad. GDPR may be the first set of regulations that brought this to most people’s attention, though it was largely a fuzzy, indistinct issue that “really doesn’t affect us.” Though not necessarily true, that’s an understandable error as GDPR is all about consumers in the EU.
More recent legislation in California and New York are bringing the issue more clearly into focus — and closer to home. We’ve worked with clients recently to determine which of these regulations they are subject to and what efforts need to be made to achieve compliance.
Compliance has meant a combination of public-facing changes that alert people to their rights as consumers as well as an assessment of existing digital tools and vendors and their practices, and the creation of systems and processes to monitor ongoing compliance.
If you are confused about your own exposure related to data protection and privacy compliance, please give us a call.