Actually, you don't even want to type them anymore... the five letters “GDPR”.
The latest hot shit: accepting business cards is a risk. This is what various articles suggest in their headlines. Let's not go on and on at this point: NO. Accepting business cards is still risk-free. The exchange of business cards is not subject to any risk. The alarmism being played with is of course exaggerated and serves as a hook.
A problem (potentially) arises precisely when the business cards are entered into the electronic customer file. As long as the cards are processed analogously and end up in a pencil case or file, for example, no guidelines are being violated.
Nobody is committing a crime just because they accept or exchange a business card. Even in these cases, all existing articles unfortunately only reveal this in the “small print”, i.e. in the back of their article. The build-up of the general state of concern and the threatening scenario with the words “With strict legal interpretation” is then followed up somewhat calmer later on by saying that accepting cards is not a criminal offense after all.
In the future, no consent will be required to contact you to process a transaction.
A spokesman for the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information also told Die Welt that accepting the business card does not in itself trigger an obligation to provide information.
What it's about
Of course, these articles and their reference to the business cards are also justified, but it has the impression that ordinary things have been dramatized. Ultimately, it's not about the (usually analogue) acceptance of the business cards, but rather the moment in which the data on the card is recorded or worked with. By the way, private individuals remain unaffected. The GDPR has no direct impact on private individuals. Private address books and business card collections are not affected.
Transferring business cards to a digital customer file or digital address book can be problematic for companies, but not for private individuals, as these do not fall under the provisions of the GDPR. The tip given to companies in this case:
Send business card holders an email after the exchange. This should provide mandatory information about data processing and point out the possibility of objecting.
And this risk scenario is initially potential, because like almost all threatening scenarios related to the GDPR, we have to wait and see how it will be dealt with in the future. Ultimately, that's exactly what it's about: absurdities in everyday situations are used to point out the GDPR and its unexplained problems.
By the way, anyone who generally collects their cards analogue shouldn't have any problems. Except when searching...
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