Within the past week, corporations and business conglomerates have been sending out emails regarding some strict changes to their privacy policies that will take effect on May 25. They are responding to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that has been put in place by the European Union, which has made some provisions to how a company can store personal details, especially for marketing purposes.
Businesses are now required to obtain consent from Europeans, which states that data cannot be be held for longer than necessary. Furthermore, an individual can ask a company to now delete their personal information from their databases at their request.
The emails that have begun to flood mailboxes generally announce changes to terms and conditions, while also warning individuals that they can be removed from mailing lists unless they take action.
Johnathan Carter, head of strategy at Acxiom notes how one in five individuals are responding to consent emails. Mark Thompson, the global lead of privacy advisory at KPMG believes that "companies must be prepared to find out that just because I buy their insurance doesn't mean I want to hear from them more."
People from outside the EU may receive these particular emails because some companies have decided to implement these new regulations to users throughout the globe, while others are limiting these policy changes to European citizens only.