100 points to know about...
Inclusive project management

We live in a data-driven world. Almost every transaction and interaction we have with most organisations involves you sharing personal data, such as our name, address and birth date. We share data online too, every time we visit a website, search for or buy something, use social media or send an email.

Sharing data helps make life easier, more convenient and connected. But our data is our data. It belongs to us so it's important our data is used only in ways you would reasonably expect, and that it stays safe. Data protection law makes sure everyone’s data is used properly and legally.

The issue of data protection and management is at the heart of any digital project.
Integrating it into the design and management of the project is therefore essential and mandatory in the eyes of the law.

In this lesson, you will discover concepts surrounding the theme of privacy and what European legal frameworks protect data privacy and regulate the use of data. In the second part, you will get advice in terms of practices and processes for protecting the data of your users and employees, within sustainable project management. Let’s start with some definitions.

What is privacy ?

Privacy is the right of individuals to decide/control to what extent information about themselves is shared with, used or accessed by others.

Privacy implies confidentiality, which means the commitment to keep a person’s personal information and/or personal health information private, and to protect the information from being disclosed to others without the individual’s consent.

What is data privacy?

Data privacy concerns the proper handling of sensitive data including, notably, personal data but also other confidential data, such as certain financial data and intellectual property data, to meet regulatory requirements as well as protecting the confidentiality and immutability of the data.

Why data privacy is important?

We live in a data economy where companies find enormous value in collecting, sharing and using data about customers or users, especially from social media. Transparency in how businesses request consent to keep personal data, abide by their privacy policies, and manage the data that they’ve collected, is vital to building trust with users who naturally expect privacy as a human right.

Managing data to ensure regulatory compliance is arguably even more important. A business may have to meet legal responsibilities about how they collect, store, and process personal data, and non-compliance could lead to a considerable fine. If the business is the victim of a hack or ransomware, the consequences in terms of lost revenue and lost customer trust could be even worse.