What is GDPR?
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new regulation on data privacy of individuals from European Union. New regulation aims to give citizens control over their data which can be stored online by hosting service providers.
Basically, it regulates how data is collected, processed, and stored securely. Any company that has a personal data of EU citizens must follow the new regulations. It was originally adopted on 14 April 2016, and after a two-year transition period will be enforced on 25 May 2018.
The Key Points of GDPR
All service providers must comply with the new GDPR regulations if they collect and process any personal data. Here are some key points regarding Web Hosting:
Personal data is any data that can be used to identify an individual;
Request for personal data and consent to use it must be as simple as possible in order not to cause any confusion;
For persons under 16 years old, a parent must provide consent to data collection on their behalf;
Every request for personal data must be reasoned. The provider must explain how the data is going to be processed;
In case of a data breach, the service provider must notify the authorities within 72 hours;
Individuals must have the “right to be forgotten”, which means that the customer must have an option to delete their data from the provider’s system;
Expanded liability beyond data controllers is expected. It means that all the parties that have access to the data, not only the data controller (hosting provider), are responsible for its security;
GDPR requires privacy by design. This means that any software, system, or internal processes used by the provider must comply with the principles of data protection.
Personal data must only be used for a specific purpose. In other cases, additional consent is required from the customer.
GDPR Changes at Hostens
As any other provider that has customers from the EU, Hostens also had to review its policies, processes, and systems. Even though the company has always tried to ensure the security of its customer’s personal data, the new regulations have brought some new things:
All legal documents have been updated: Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and Refund Policy. This was done to clarify many things with regards to GDPR;
Customers can easily check where their specific data is being used by logging in to their account on the Client Area site https://billing.hostens.com/clientarea
Customers can have their details removed from the system if there is such a need. Keep in mind that Hostens also complies with Lithuanian Law and information on invoices will be kept for some time;
Internal processes have been revised to ensure that only authorized individuals can manage customer’s personal data;
All the employees that are authorized to work with individuals’ data are being informed about the new regulation;
Does Hostens Comply with GDPR?
Hostens does comply with the new GDPR regulation. Legal documents have been updated, new features added, while internal processes have been revised and changed.
Moreover, Hostens puts even more emphasis on monitoring all means of security and processing the data as carefully as possible. Personal data is not being processed without a reasonable need.
Like any other website, Hostens uses Cookies and 3rd party tools to track customers’ actions for general marketing purposes. When a 3rd party tool is being used, the partner providing it must comply with GDPR as well, as the processing of the personal data is involved. The best example is Google Analytics, which has its own Privacy Policy and Terms that can be accessed here: https://privacy.google.com/businesses/compliance/#?modal_active=none
Hostens takes all the necessary steps to choose only trustworthy partners that comply with GDPR.
If you seek additional information, check the links below to learn more about GDPR at Hostens and in general, too.
Hostens legal documents:
Privacy Policy: https://www.hostens.com/legal/privacy-policy/
Terms of Service: https://www.hostens.com/legal/terms-of-service/
Refund Policy: https://www.hostens.com/legal/refund-policy/
Other sources on the new regulations:
The official GDPR regulation can be found here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32016R0679
Another source on GDPR and its key points can be found here: https://www.eugdpr.org/eugdpr.org.html