I thought that cute puppy might get your attention! 
Now that you're here . . .
As you are undoubtedly aware by now, last year the EU passed a strong set of guidelines aimed at protecting individual data privacy rights. These guidelines are called the General Data Protection Regulation (aka GDPR), and they apply to any entity who collects or processes identifiable data from EU citizens (in short, almost everyone and most definitely Cookie Connection). These guidelines went into effect last week on May 25, 2018.
- Users must be notified whenever data is being collected from them;
- Users have the right to delete or export the data that's been collected in a portable format; and
- Users have the right to revoke permission to collect data as easily as they give it.
So, what does this mean for you and Cookie Connection? Basically, it means a lot stays as it's always been, and a few things have changed (as of May 25) to address the above principles.
As for what's not changing: How seriously I take your privacy! I've always had a policy of never releasing any private member data to sponsors or any other third party. That's how I expect my personal data to be handled, and so that's how I handle yours. Please take some time to review our Privacy Policy and your member profile. As noted in our Privacy Policy, any information that reveals in your member profile can be viewed by anyone. So if you see something there that you'd rather not have anyone else see, now's the time to edit your profile!
As for what has changed: My tech partner, Hoop.la, added a few important features to ensure your control over the data you post on Cookie Connection. All members, anywhere, can now deactivate or delete their accounts at any time, and/or elect to revoke our Terms of Use (which deactivates those revoking the terms). Members can also download all of their content from the site into a portable format. Options for doing all of these things can be found under the "Update Your Profile" link in your member profile area, and generally appear as small blue links. Please take a moment to review this area of your profile to be sure you can locate these options.
Of course, I sincerely hope that no one ever elects to delete or deactivate his/her account, because my goal is for Cookie Connection to remain the world's most wonderful cookie community! However, I did want to assure all members everywhere that Cookie Connection is as committed as ever to keeping your data secure!
Now, onward to a safer, more privacy-respecting future!
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