Developers: Your GDPR Compliance Guidebook

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a set of user-data privacy regulations established by the EU in 2016 and strictly enforced since 2018. Developers play a crucial role in ensuring GDPR compliance for their software, even if their company isn't based in the EU. Understanding what constitutes "personal data" under GDPR is essential, as it includes not only basic information like name, email, and address but also more complex data such as biometric, genetic, and location data. Developers must shift their perspective on user data, recognizing that they are allowed to use the users' data but do not own it. To achieve GDPR compliance, developers should provide clear documentation of data collection policies, create clear opt-in opportunities for users, only collect necessary data, protect user data through encryption and security measures, and empower users with tools to manage their own data.