Personal Privacy Laws and Your Small Business

In the course of running a business, your company is able to collect a great deal of information about you. Some of it could be sensitive personal information, which is a special category of data that gets additional protection under privacy laws. The laws differ from one country to country, and so are the types of data that are considered personal data.

Sensitive information is defined differently by different privacy laws, however it often includes things like genetic information like racial or ethnic heritage sexual orientation, gender identity, as well as religious beliefs. It can also contain the person’s social security number and home address as well as phone number, or other data that could be used to identify them in some way. It can even include biometric information like fingerprints or electronic signatures.

The laws that govern personal data will vary by region and industry, but it’s crucial for businesses to understand what types of data they’re legally required to safeguard. A lot of these laws will require you to define your policies and have employees sign them as a condition of doing business with you.

It’s a great idea do an inventory of the personal data your company has. This will help ensure that you’re in compliance. This means that you need to look beyond the documents in your file cabinets and also the information stored on laptops, mobile devices home computers, USB flash drives, or digital copiers. You’ll be amazed at how much personal data your company holds.

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