Lesson 5.3: Protecting personal data: GDPR and data protection laws worldwide

What personal data and special categories of personal data are, who the data controller, processor and data subject are, the principles every organisation must follow, and the duty to report a breach, using the EU's GDPR as the model most laws follow (it requires reporting within 72 hours) and comparing others: the UK GDPR, Turkey's KVKK, Brazil's LGPD, California's CCPA, Canada's PIPEDA, India's DPDP Act, China's PIPL. In the lab you find a customer export that was left in a public web folder, work out what data and how many people it covers, prove from the web log that a stranger downloaded it, take it offline without destroying it, and calculate the reporting deadline.

19 min

You will learn to

Define personal data and special categories of personal data
Name the data controller, processor and data subject
List the main processing principles
Investigate a data breach: what, how many, who, when
State the breach reporting duty under GDPR and how other laws compare

Key terms

GDPR: The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679), applied since May 2018, the model for many laws worldwide.
Other data protection laws: Most countries now have one, often modelled on the GDPR: the UK GDPR, Turkey's KVKK (Law 6698), Brazil's LGPD, Canada's PIPEDA, India's DPDP Act 2023, China's PIPL, and in the US sector and state laws such as HIPAA (health) and California's CCPA.
Personal data: Any information about an identified or identifiable living person.
Special category personal data: Data whose misuse can lead to discrimination, protected more strictly.
Data controller, processor, data subject: The controller decides why and how data is processed (the shop). The processor processes it on the controller's behalf (a cloud or mailing company). The data subject is the person the data is about (the customer).
Personal data breach: Personal data obtained, disclosed, changed or lost by unauthorised people or by accident.

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