ACADEMY HUB assists you in making your website GDPR compliant by utilizing a variety of ways geared to meet the criteria for the storage and processing of personal data. Finally, ACADEMY HUB makes GDPR compliance simple, but if you want to learn more about the GDPR rules and what this plugin does, this useful article will help.

What Is GDPR and Why Should I Care?

If you haven't yet found a clear explanation of GDPR, the notion is straightforward on paper. The General Data Protection Regulation is abbreviated as GDPR. It's a European regulation that has a global influence on website owners because it governs how anyone (from anywhere) gathers and manages personal data of European Union residents. So, even if your website is hosted in the United States or elsewhere in the world, you must comply with GDPR if you have visitors from the European Union.

What Role Do Cookies Play in Compliance?

Cookies are only referenced once in the GDPR, so you might be asking why they're so important. Cookies, in fact, are a critical component of GDPR compliance. After all, cookies are one of the most frequent methods for collecting and tracking a user's personal data, which is why the GDPR has established particular guidelines for how your site can use them.

What Are The Requirements Of The GDPR?

To be in compliance with GDPR, your website must do all of the following at the most basic level.

1. Before you activate any cookies, you must get previous and express consent (aside from necessary, whitelisted cookies).
2. It doesn't have to be all or nothing: The consent must be granular, which means that a user should be able to opt-in to select cookies rather than being forced to opt-out of all cookies.
3. Allow for freedom of choice: The consent must be freely granted, which means you cannot force it on them in exchange for accessing or using your website.
4. Make withdrawals simple: The user should have the same ability to withdraw consent as they do to give it.

You must have specific consent.

Consent should be given to process any personal data, as stated in Recital 32:

Consent shall be expressed in a clear affirmative act that establishes a freely given, precise, informed, and unequivocal signal of the data subject's consent to the processing of personal data about him or her. This could be as simple as checking a box when visiting a website, selecting technical settings for information society services, or making another statement or act that clearly demonstrates the data subject's agreement of the intended processing of his or her personal data in this context.

How ACADEMY HUB Helps You Meet This Requirement:
When the Consent Log feature is enabled, user consents are tracked. You can download the consent log which contains unique token that can be matched to the token stored in the users browser to see which cookie categories were allowed.

You Need a Clear Cookie Declaration

A cookie declaration in clear and plain English should also be contained, according to Recital 42:

How ACADEMY HUB Can Assist You in Fulfilling This Requirement:

ACADEMY HUB checks your website for cookies and categorizes them automatically. Before consenting, users will be able to see a list of cookies in use, as well as the purpose of each cookie. You can also provide a link to your cookie policy page, which has further information about how personal data is handled.