So I lied
Some weeks ago, when The Legal Genealogist was struggling along with everybody else trying to figure out what had to be done to be as much in compliance as possible with a new European privacy rule known as the GDPR, these words appeared in this blog:
“A promise… This is it. Today is the end of this. After today, NO. MORE. GDPR.”1
So… I lied.
Well, not lied exactly, since I did say: “Except maybe a little nudge occasionally if things start to go off the rails.”2
And here’s that nudge because, for a few folks, things have gone a little off the rails, as the blog transitions over to a new email system designed to ensure that not only did everyone who got the blog by email want to get it but that I could prove they wanted to get it.
And here’s how–some people are seeing double: getting two copies of the daily blog posts by email subscription rather than one. Or they’re only getting one but it’s from an older email service that’s going to go away. Or they’re not getting it by email at all when they’d like to.
If you’re one of those folks, here’s what you can do about it:
1. You’re getting more than one copy of the blog by email.
The one email subscription you want to keep getting is the one from the MadMimi service. The footer on that email looks like this:
Keep this one! This is the email service that’s being used now for all new email subscriptions, and the only one that’ll be used at all after July 1 or so.
Look in the footer of any other copy you’re getting for an unsubscribe link and click on it to take your name off the list for any older email system. An older version from Google has a footer that looks like this and you can turn that one off by clicking on the link that’s highlighted in the image that reads: “To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.”
Another older version from WordPress has a footer that looks like this and you can turn that one off by clicking on the link that’s highlighted in the image that reads: “Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from The Legal Genealogist.”
2. You’re only getting one copy of the blog by email, but it’s not from the MadMimi service.
First, follow the link as shown above to unsubscribe to the older system.
Then, second, go ahead and subscribe to the new system using the Subscribe by Email link on the right hand side of the blog’s home page at https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/:
Because of the GDPR rules, I can’t just transfer your email over to the new system. You need to take this step to show that you really honestly do want to receive the email and it isn’t just me forcing the blog into your unsuspecting email box.3
3. You’re not getting the blog by email at all, but you’d like to.
Ditto to the link in step 2. Just click on that Subscribe by Email link on the right side of the blog home page and follow the prompts. You’ll start getting the blog sent directly to your email address every time a new post publishes.
Now one last point:
On or about July 1, all the old subscriptions via Google or WordPress will be turned off. So if that’s the only copy you’re receiving and you do want to get the blog by email, you will need to subscribe again using the Subscribe by Email link at the blog home page. If you’re getting the one with the footer that says MadMimi, you’re good and don’t need to do a thing.
And that should really be the end of this GDPR stuff.
Unless…
SOURCES
- Judy G. Russell, “Enough with the GDPR,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 25 May 2018 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 13 June 2018). ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- See e.g. “Guide to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Lawful basis for processing: Consent”, Information Commissioner’s Office, United Kingdom (https://ico.org.uk/ : accessed 13 June 2018). ↩
I am getting your newsletter via an RSS feed. Will this continue to work?
Yes, it will. No changes there at all. (Thanks for asking.)
Does GDPR affect me as an American when I order documents from an archive in England or Germany? Are businesses in the EU required to treat non-EU citizens the same with regard to their privacy?
I am not about to try to give legal advice about the law in the EU (or anywhere else for that matter!!), but can only refer you to the text of the GDPR itself: “This Regulation applies to the processing of personal data in the context of the activities of an establishment of a controller or a processor in the Union, regardless of whether the processing takes place in the Union or not.” (Article 3) If I were a “data controller” in the EU, I’d certainly read that as applying to all of my dealings with personal data, no matter whose personal data it was.
The box readers could check if we wanted to follow the discussion of one or anither of your articles seems to have disappeared. Any chance of it returning?
Not now, I’m afraid. The system that allowed that doesn’t meet what I think the GDPR requirements are. If that changes, I’ll consider putting it back, but not now.