‘GDPR’: What is it, and why does it matter to you?

Those of you who subscribe to our newsletter will have received an email from us yesterday (May 15) about something called ‘GDPR’, or General Data Protection Regulation*. Most UK and European readers will already be aware of this because they will have received similar emails from every manufacturer, retailer, newsletter, and website to which they have been a subscriber. On the other hand, American and other international readers might be wondering what this is and how it affects them – It does!

You receive our newsletter because you have subscribed to our newsletter mailing list. Under the outgoing data protection regulations, you could be added to a number of different mailing lists in the process (for example, if you signed up to the Hi-Fi+ mailing list, you might not only receive our newsletter, but the newsletter from our sister title, The Absolute Sound, automatically). As of May 25, 2018, this practice is outlawed across all of the EU, punishable with a fine of up to €20,000,000 for non-compliance.

We at Hi-Fi+ have always been committed to protecting and safeguarding your personal data and have strived to preserve your digital security beyond existing data protection regulations. However, this new regulation affects the honest as well as the dishonest, and effectively renders any previously acquired mailing lists invalid because we cannot accurately track from whence your digital ‘self’ came to us. Irrespective of whether or not you live in the EU, to continue to receive our regular newsletter, you have to actively resubscribe to it. If you don’t, as of May 25, you will no longer receive regular updates as to what goes on at Hi-Fi+, and you will miss out on the latest reviews, interviews, show reports from around the world, and our regular fantastic audio competitions.

Please click here to resubscribe.

Thank you in advance,

Alan Sircom, Editor Hi-Fi+

*The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union. It addresses the handling and export of personal data both within and outside the EU. It replaces the Data Protection Directive.