Transcript of the Video
Hello everyone, Suzanne Dibble here, a data protection law expert. Just want to say, don't panic, okay? I've seen lots of posts in the group recently. There are nine days to go until GDPR comes in to force. I'm getting a sense of panic coming from those posts and you really don't need to. As I have said so many times before in this group, there is not a vast data protection police force out there that on the 25th of May, if you are not compliant, they will come and fine you, arrest you, any of the bad scenarios that are going through your head. That is not going to happen, okay? As long as you are not ignoring it, not putting your head in the sand, and you are taking some steps towards compliance you will be absolutely fine, okay?
Probably, even the fact that you're in my group and you've watched a few videos if the ICO came knocking on your door, which is so statistically low it's untrue anyway, chances are they'd say, "Well done and here's what you need to do." Etc. So, please don't panic, okay? It's really the worst thing... It's just unnecessary, okay? It's just unnecessary to panic because particularly for the smaller businesses in here, maybe you're fairly new to the group, you've not really got to grips with what's going on. It just seems like this huge and complex regulation with potentially scary fines. The headline finds if you can be fined twenty million Euros is scary, but the chances of that happening to you if you've got a small business are minimal. I'd go as far as to say it's not going to ever happen, so please don't panic.
This group is staying open for as long as people need it. It might be six months, it might be a year, might be five years, it might be ten years, okay? For as long as people need this group, you've got all the resources here to go through. I will continue answering questions as far as I'm able to, adding more resources, improving the way that the pack works so that it's even easier to put the documents into place. But don't think that with nine days to go you've suddenly got to get your head around this complex subject and make sure that you're 100% compliant because you don't need to.
Please… I can sense the rising tide of panic and we don't ... It's just unnecessary. It doesn't really help anyone, it's not helping you and it's just unnecessary because there's nothing bad that's going to happen on the 25th of May. That's the first thing to say, and the second thing to say is that if you feel that you need to share all the resources in my group from other people, please don't. I know there are other resources out there; everyone is quite at liberty to go and use other people's resources. I am not making you be in this group, I am not making you buy my pack. There are many other resources out there available to you, but what I can't have is people posting things in my group about other resources because I haven't got the time to go and check those resources and say whether they're any good or not.
The whole reason that I set up the group was to cut through the misinformation that is out there and to give you sensible, practical advice that is actually correct, so if you are sharing links... I saw that one lady shared a free privacy policy, now that's great. If you can find free privacy policy out there and you don't want to pay for my pack, that's great. Go and do that, but make sure that you've checked that it is actually someone who knows what they're talking about because otherwise, you're just wasting your time, aren't you really? But certainly, please don't post them in my group because I haven't got the time to go and verify those resources and I feel a sense of responsibility to this group and I will just delete them. I know that you're coming from a good place and that you're wanting to help people, but don't do it.
The other thing to say is that if you are a small business and you are fairly new to this, I did do a video, probably a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago that is for very small businesses who don't do very much. That's probably a good... After you've been through the checklist, maybe watched the overview video, then go and find that video. If you've got a very simple business, that's a good place to start. There are only a few things that you need to do and then that's it. You've kind of cracked it, so go and hunt that video down if you're a small business. Really, just the message of this video is don't panic, because there's no need to.
If I see any panicking posts, I will delete them, because I don't think they're helpful to the rest of the group. Let's focus our time and energy on working out what's the position for your business and taking a few simple steps to work toward compliance. Like I say, on the 25th of May there is not this large guillotine that's going to fall from the sky and if you're not 100% compliant you're going to find yourself in trouble, okay? The ICO themselves have said, "The 25th isn't a deadline; really that's the start of it." The whole thing about GDPR is it's not a box-ticking exercise, it's about putting privacy at the heart of any organization. And that is whether you are a one-man band, or you're a multi-national.
And that is across all businesses, as it should be, because the data is still of the same worth regardless as to whose hands it's in, but obviously the things that you have to do as a smaller business are much less than you would have to do if you were multi-national to comply with this. Remember, this legislation is coming from a good place. If you think about you as the data subject, we're all data subjects in our own right, it's coming from a good place. Obviously what we struggle with is the implementation of it. It's not the clearest legislation and that's just the nature of it, isn't it? Data and the processing of data are becoming increasingly complex. It's not easy, and I hope that I have, in some small way, been able to provide practical examples and translate that legislation into what that actually means in reality.
So I'll leave it there, but please, A, don't panic because you don't need to and B, please don't post other free resources in my group, because as I say, I don't have the time to verify those. If you don't like watching videos, if it's not clear to you from my resources in this group, then go and find another group where it is clear, okay? I have no attachment at all to you being in this group. If it's helpful, fantastic, if it's not, go off and find another free resource. I've always just been trying my best to translate what is a very complex legislation into reality for small businesses, in particular, online businesses. So yes, leave it there. Well done to all of you who are making huge steps to compliance, those of you who have embraced it.
The sense that I'm getting from most people is you feel that it's very daunting and scary and then you may be clear in the afternoon and then maybe work through the checklist and a few of the videos and you feel much more calm about the whole thing, so if you're in that sense of panic then I would recommend that you clear half a day, that you go through the checklist, watch the overview video, and probably the marketing video and then look down the list of videos that I've done in the group. Please don't try and watch every video because that will send you a bit mad, but look in the file section. In the file section, there is a list of all the videos that I've done with clickable links so you can just scan down that and think, "Okay, that's relevant to me, I'm going to watch that."
Maybe watch two or three key videos for you and then you will have a much better sense to what you actually need to do and you'll see that it's actually not that much, and you won't panic about it, okay? There you go. I'll leave it there, but nine days to go, let's keep it positive, let's keep the panic away and yeah we'll all be fine, okay?
