25 May 2018
UCOPIA contributes to compliance with the GDPR, the new EU regulation for privacy of personal data
UCOPIA, the European leader in Wi-Fi connectivity and proximity user experience (UX), announces that their Wi-Fi Connectivity and Proximity Marketing offerings have been revamped to support the relevant provisions of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
As a trusted technology vendor, UCOPIA has designed new features that will help its partners and customers safely and confidently ensure GDPR compliance. Professional services and training courses are also offered to assist in executing compliance processes, and to monitor all solutions that are already live and running at the customers’ premises.
- The UCOPIA offerings for Wi-Fi access management and Proximity Marketing are compliant with the GDPR as the regulation came into force recently on May 25, and supports the provisions of antiterrorist legislation.
- UCOPIA provides assistance to channel partners and customers in the course of their journey to compliance, to protect data collected through the Wi-Fi network.
- UCOPIA is also part of the EU program WIFI4EU to expand the availability of Wi-Fi in Europe.
How does the GDPR impact Wi-Fi hotspots?
The GDPR aims at ensuring that every citizen’s fundamental rights are to have their privacy ensured and their personal data protected. This regulation applies to all organizations based in the EU or otherwise, whether private or public, that process personal data of EU citizens. They will be liable for delivering three new rights that the regulation grants to all EU citizens: the right to information, the right to explicit consent, and the right to be forgotten.
Organizations that provide their guests and customers with Wi-Fi access (restaurants, airports, shopping centers, large public venues, and many others), are significantly impacted by this new regulation. To ensure compliance, they will have to compile an inventory of existing and collected personal data that they manage, ensure that the new rights granted to citizens are applied, opt for privacy by design, monitor compliance of their partners, and design a remediation plan in case of a data leak.
Granular, role-based access to data
With UCOPIA, it is now possible to split databases according to the purpose they serve: legal or marketing. The core connectivity offering from UCOPIA based on solutions for managing Wi-Fi access will prevent businesses from accessing personal data. Hosted by UCOPIA, such data cannot be exported or processed. They will be stored exclusively for compliance purposes with the GDPR and other applicable regulations, such as antiterrorist laws, that require logs to be retained and disclosed to law enforcement authorities upon injunction.
Data processing stakeholders (IT, business lines), willing to leverage the Proximity Marketing offering will have an access restricted to data bases required for the purpose of processing. This granular access to data will be supported by codes of conduct and opt-in configuration guides available from the admin interface.
An informed consent from users to prevent any abuse in data processing
The GDPR defines consent as «any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her». When authenticating via the captive portal, users will be able to clearly state their consent regarding the use of their personal data, on a page dedicated to the management of their data. The availability of opt-in and opt-out features, as well as a detailed description of the processing purpose, will help users manage their right to be forgotten, and be aware of the goal pursued by the organization with regards to the use of personal data, its retention period, and the person to contact for dealing with any related issue.
About UCOPIA
UCOPIA is the European leader in Wi-Fi connectivity and personalized proximity user experience (UX). The company leverages the strong potential of Wi-Fi networks to design new ways to work, collaborate, communicate, learn and entertain. UCOPIA access solutions are secured and user friendly. They support complex, widespread and multivendor environments. UCOPIA turns the Wi-Fi network into a smart proximity media, thanks to a Wi-Fi analytics service that boosts the experience of customers by providing them with the right information, at the right moment, and in the right location. UCOPIA solutions and services delivered through a global network of resellers, address the requirements of different market segments, from SMBs to large enterprises and industries, including retail, healthcare, large public venues, education and hospitality. Founded in 2002 with a headcount of 45, UCOPIA is based in Paris with a local presence in the UK, Germany and Dubai.
