New data privacy regulations enacted in the European Union may translate to less-cluttered inboxes, fewer targeted advertisements and a reduction in the number of seemingly random calls people receive in the United States.
The General Data Protection Regulation went into effect Friday to impose greater transparency in the way European organizations collect and handle users’ identifying information.
The effort to give individuals more ownership of the personal information collected by both private and nonprofit organizations extends to select companies in the United States.
The regulations apply to companies that monitor the behavior of, or offer goods or services to, any EU resident.
Bloomington-based Hanapin Marketing chose to send out emails to its subscribers a month ago to be transparent and make sure it was in compliance with the new regulations.
The marketing company collects data and hosts an annual conference in London.
If an applicable company had not come into compliance by Friday, it could face fines up to 20 million euros ($23.6 million) or 4 percent of the organization’s total annual global revenue — whichever is higher.
“It’s really about giving the power back to the person and allowing them to give consent freely and to be able to opt into that instead of being spammed,” said Amber Connor, senior email marketing coordinator for Hanapin.
“I think it’s fantastic. I hope eventually the U.S. will take on this practice as well. It’s about clean marketing, clean outreach, clean information.”