GDPR a year later

It's been a year since the introduction of the tough new GDPR data laws. in that time 4 times the number of data breaches have been reported in the UK and the number of complaints about data breaches made has doubled.

In total there have been more than 41,000 completes related to GDPR laws.

There have also been more than 14,000 logs of GDPR data breaches.

These figures could suggest an increased awareness of data laws by the general public.

The GDPR laws were introduced to give a greater level of control to people over how data that is being collected about them can be used.

A breach of data must be reported to the ICO who are governing the GDPR laws within 72 hours. 

Companies found to have broken the law face fines of up to ¬£17.6m or 4% of their annual turnover, whichever is greater.  

No fines have yet been issued within the UK but France fined Google £44m in February for GDPR breaches.

The ICO, however, prefer to short the focus away from punishing firms to looking at how companies can use data laws to act responsibly.

Despite this, they do intend to issue fines soon.

When asked for a comment by the BBC, Richard Breavington, partner at corporate law firm RPC, said: ‚The ICO has already begun to ratchet up the value of fines, and it has barely scratched the surface of its powers.

‚ÄúThe first large-scale loss or misuse of individuals‚Äô data under GDPR will be an important ‚test case‚ for the ICO, which will show us how far the regulator is prepared to go in using its new powers - this is a key area to watch. However, we don‚ expect to see blockbuster fines being levied in the near future.‚Äù