Hello,

The GDPR changes  are due to come into force 25th May, 2018. I feel there is a lot out there but it is still a little unclear for bloggers. There are many variances in terms of what bloggers use and do, that I can only let you know what I am currently doing and why. Hopefully you will find this post helpful.

Potentially impacted areas

In terms of what I view as the key change, storing and handling of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of individuals within the EU may need to reviewing. This applied even if a blogger based outside of the EU has audience based within it ( including the UK). The main consideration is around mail lists which is how a blogger, like me can communicate with you directly.

Mail lists

In terms of mail lists this is referring to that outside of the usual ‘follow’ button. The reason for this is because you are unable to access the information to contact individuals from the mail list via WordPress. You would require a separate plug-in for this to be possible.

The reason mail lists are impacted is around the changes to consent requirements. Changes also apply to transparency as to the use of any information collected the right to be forgotten and the removal of pre-checked boxes.

As I previously mentioned, I use Mail Chimp for my lists which makes it my data processor and I am the Data Controller. Despite this there are some actions which I am required to undertake as some forms will no longer be valid past May 25th. Mail chimp have a great blog post with helpful steps which you can check out here.

Plug-ins (Analytics)

The other key consideration is around my plug-ins which as a site owner, I responsible for. I personally use Google Analytics which, like Mail Chimp, have an obligation to conform to the EU GDPR. That said the collation of PII is against the Google Analytics Terms of Service. Now is still a great time to review all page URLs, titles ad other areas which this information could inadvertently be collected.  To be safe you could turn on the IP Anonymisation feature.

Obviously this is just all steps and things I have looked at based off my research for my position. Bloggers are so varied I don’t feel there is a straight forward approach for all. Although I do hope you have found this post useful.