According to a study conducted by the Queen Mary University of London and the University of Cambridge in the UK, private blockchains have a great chance in being compatible with the new EU privacy policies, so it’s no wonder that this information is in the latest blockchain news today.
The General Data Protection Regulation act that regulates how personal data is stored for people within the European Union is now in effect since May this year. According to the GDPR act, data controllers are obliged to respect all citizens’ rights in terms of keeping their private information. If a certain controller doesn’t obey the law, the fines vary from 20 million Euros or 4% of global revenues.
According to the study, all crypto-related technologies could go under the rules contained in the GDPR since they publicly store private information about the citizens who live in the European Union thus:
“There is a risk that this legal uncertainty will have a chilling effect on innovation, at least in the EU and potentially more broadly. For example, if all nodes and miners of a platform were to be deemed joint controllers, they would have joint and several liability, with potential penalties under the GDPR.”
However, blockchain operators could be treated like processors the same way the companies behind cloud technologies control the users’ data.
Blockchain networks could store personal data externally to meet the rules of the privacy laws or allow nodes to delete the private key that has encrypted information.
GDPR rules are really hard to comply with especially for crypto mining businesses which are why the researches urge the European Data Protection Board to create a guide of the protection law that will be clearer.
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