Getting “Terms of Service” Emails? Here's Why.

Rich DeMuro explains the reason why we're getting all those emails with subject lines like "Important update to our terms of service & privacy policy."Follow Rich on Social Media:Facebook: http://facebook.com/RichOnTechTwitter: http://twitter.com/richdemuroInstagram: http://instagram.com/richontechNEW! You can add the Rich on Tech Daily Update to your Alexa Flash Briefing! Just search for the "Rich on Tech" skill in your Alexa app and add it to your briefing! You'll get a daily dose of tech news each day and a longer show on the weekends!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Get full access to Rich on Tech at richontech.tv/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Are you getting a bunch of terms of service emails?
Here is the reason why. I'm Rich Demiro. This is
Rich on Tech Daily. Well, if you've checked your inbox lately,
you have definitely seen them emails with the subject lines
like important update to our terms of service and privacy policy,
or we're updating our terms of service and privacy policy,

(00:25):
or simply GDPR. Notice, it's all because of that acronym,
something called the GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation. It's
a new European law, but it's having implications here in
the US. The new law requires companies to better explain
to consumers the data that they're collecting and ensures that

(00:45):
they use it in a responsible way. Basically, it's all
to prevent another Cambridge Analytica style situation. Although keep in
mind this law has been in the works long before
that scandal broke. And the reason why these companies are
taking the new law so seriously there are signs magnificant penalties.
We're talking fines in the billions of dollars if they
don't comply. And the interesting thing about the law is

(01:07):
that even though it applies to European residents, big companies
around the world are deciding that it's just kind of
easier to update their general terms of use and their
privacy policy for everyone instead of having different guidelines for
different parts of the world. That's why we're getting the
emails from all these companies here in the US, So
in effect, we are sort of benefiting from the European protections,

(01:29):
even though here in the US we do not have
the same strict or one size fits all privacy law.
Now one provision. Some eagle eyed email recipients have noticed,
and some of you have emailed me about this. Some
companies like Oath, which now owns Yahoo, are asking consumers
to give up their rights to class action lawsuits. So
what can you do if you don't agree with something

(01:49):
in these terms and conditions, Well, not much as you
might expect. Your only remedy is to stop doing business
with the service if you don't agree with how they're
using your data. But the good news is the GDPR
is making that easier as well. The new law says
companies must offer a way for you to download your
personal data from them at any time and have your

(02:11):
information erased from company servers in a timely manner. Now,
Facebook and Google have had similar tools that do this
for a while now, and we just saw Instagram launch
one as well. The new GDPR law goes into effect
May twenty fifth, so expect to see a bunch of
emails until then and now, you know, thanks so much
for listening. If you like this podcast, please leave a

(02:32):
review on the Apple Podcasts app. That way more folks
see it. I'm Rich damiro links to everything I talk
about at my website, richontech dot tv. I'll talk to
you real soon.