Freelancers' battle with GDPR

Although the GDPR regulation has been in force for some months now, we are of the opinion that repetition is the mother of wisdom. And those who are wise do not pay unnecessary fines.

Do you have at least a rough idea of how the GDPR regulation will affect freelancers, who mostly don't have employees but only a few dozen clients they work for? Because these freelancers don't want anything complicated, but rather try to simplify the running of their business as much as possible through simple tools and applications.

The extent to which they will be affected by GDPR largely depends on the reality:

  • What personal data freelancers have about their customers
    • .
  • What personal data they hold and what they use it for
  • How long they will be able to work with this data
  • Whether they have this personal data sufficiently secure and who all has access to it
  • Whether they send newsletters or other marketing offers to their customers
  • Whether they operate an e-shop through which they collect customer data

The extent to which your activities will be under siege because of GDPR depends largely on what data you work with. The rule of thumb here is that the less you know about your users, the better for you. Many freelancers only work with common contact details in their business, so they don't need to worry about GDPR at all.

So what are the categories of personal data?

General data

General data includes first and last name, age and date of birth, gender, personal status, citizenship, IP address, photograph or other visual material, financial data (credit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc.).

Organisational details including contact details

This includes, for example, work and personal email address, work or personal mobile phone, home or business address, passport and ID card number, birth number or other verification and identification data.

Sensitive data

Sensitive data includes, for example, race or ethnic origin, religious, political or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, sexual orientation, health status, criminal offences or final convictions, genetic data (blood tests, DNA profile, X-rays, confidential medical reports, etc.), biometric data (signature, fingerprints, images of face or other body parts, voice recordings, etc.).

The ideal situation is one where you do not need more than general and contact data to conduct your business.If you also need to process some of the above sensitive data, be prepared for more paperwork and stricter rules.

And if you're in the less fortunate category, don't hang your head because our team of specialists are here to help. Contact us to make sure you're fully compliant with the GDPR regulation.