What app developers should know about GDPR compliance. Privacy is not an option: for app developers, Europe’s GDPR addresses privacy issues through …
Join the DZone community and get the full member experience. There is a price for everything, and the loss of privacy is the price for downloading and using apps on smartphones. As security technologist and cryptographer Bruce Schneier, aptly observes, walking around with a smartphone is like carrying a tracking device 24/7. The smartphone revolution also brought on app development, with contemporary life revolving around mobile applications. This is especially true for Millennials and Gen Zers, whose desire for information at the press of a button remains unchanged over the years. For instance, at least 92% of young people in the EU-27 use mobile phones to access the internet away from home or work. The forecast for Europe in 2021 is the use of over 522 million smartphones. Despite this widespread use of smartphones, a recent Eurobarometer survey found that 67% of Europeans worried about not being in control of personal information they provide online, and over 90% of them request the same data protection rights across the EU, despite where their data is processed. These worries led to an agreement on a data protection standard named General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which was approved by the EU parliament on April 14, 2016. Thereafter, GDPR regulations came into force on May 25, 2018, and were added to the law on data protection and privacy in the EU and the European Economic Area. As these regulations impose new obligations on collecting, storing, or processing personal data of people living in Europe, app developers for Europe need to understand their obligation to comply with GDPR, and also the impact of GDPR on app development. On the other hand, understanding the detailed requirements of GDPR is complicated, with the law extending to almost 90 pages in length.
