Compliance and Ethics
Compliance and Ethics
Yes, Article 23 allows member states to make derogations in special circumstances based on specific criteria.
Please see below a video explaining more about GDPR which was created by the Wall Street Journal- WSJ.
Although the GDPR is not a law passed in the U.S., it may be applicable to various activities that The University of Southern Mississippi engages in relative to processing, storing or managing EU resident's personal data (i.e. those individuals residing in the EU at the time they access systems in which USM is processing/storing/managing their data).
Additionally, contracts that involve processing of data of individuals in the EU or EEA must contain certain protections. If you are in the process of negotiating a contract that involves the collection, storage or transmission of data collected from individuals who are in the EU or EEA, please contact gdprrequestsFREEMississippi and provide a copy of the proposed contract along with your contact information as well as the timeline for finalizing the contract Do not enter into a contract until the contract has been reviewed for GDPR provisions as a data processing agreement is needed that contain certain provisions between the data processor (a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or any other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller) and the data controller (A controller determines the purposes and means of processing personal data).
Individuals in the EEA (includes the EU plus 3 countries- Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway):
GDPR rights only apply to those individuals located in the EU or EEA at the time their personal data is processed.
Any request to exercise rights under the GDPR will require that the individual provide documentation:
If an individual is requesting rectification/correction of a record, information must be submitted as to where the error lies thereby justifying rectification.
NOTE: Request by domestic students cannot be honored as the law is only applicable to those individuals who can verify through date-stamped documentation that they were in the EU at the time their personal data was processed.
Within the scope of the GDPR is storage or use of personal data for those actions or activities that:
The GDPR takes a wide view of what constitutes "personal data", which includes each of the following:
Basic identity information such as:
as well as web data such as:
The GDPR also defines what constitutes special category data, which requires that added protections be implemented to protect the data from disclosure:
If you are in the EEA at the time you access our systems, you may be able to assert certain rights relative to any of the personal data we are processing, but you will have to show proof of your identity as well as of your EU residency to assert any rights under the GDPR.
Right of Access
A data subject can obtain the following information:
Right to Rectification
A data subject can request that any inaccurate or incomplete personal data be corrected
or that a supplemental statement is added.
Right to Erasure-Individual Rights
Individuals can exercise their right to be forgotten/erasure in the following situations:
Right to Restrict Processing
In the following situations, an individual can request to block or suppress the processing of their data:
Right to Data Portability
An individual has the right to receive a copy of any personal data provided by him/her
to the University in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (e.g.
CSV).Categories. The following categories of data are subject to the right to portability:
Other Information
Right to Object
Right in Relation to Automated Decision Making and Profiling
INFORMATION ON RECORDS RETENTION PAGE
If the University made personal data public and is obligated to erase the data, The University may refuse the individual's exercise of their right of erasure:
The information you provide (including verification of your identity and residency in the EU) will be processed solely for the purpose of verifying your identity and residency, identifying the information you are requesting.
Research is affected if it involves processing of personal data about individuals who are located in the EEA (regardless if they are citizens of the EEA):
Processing is defined in GDPR Article 4(2) as "any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaption, or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction".
As defined by Article 4 of the GDPR, both the data controller and the processor are responsible for protection of personal data.
The data controller is responsible for ensuring that the data is handled in compliance with GDPR. According to Article 4, the data controller is "the natural or legal person, public authority, agency, or other body, which alone or jointly with others, determines the purpose and means of the processing of personal data"; and
The data processor makes sure that the data is processed in adherence with the conditions set forth in the Data Processing Agreement. By definition, the data processor is "a natural or legal person, public authority, agency, or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the [data] controller".
Personal data (i.e. information that allows for the identification of an individual) and sensitive data (i.e. special set of data to be treated with additional security) are both covered by GDPR including, but not limited to the following examples:
Personal Data
Sensitive Personal Data
Note: The protections provided by GDPR expand beyond the immediate subjects to include third parties.
Typically, personal data is protected even if it was previously disclosed publicly because GDPR involves both privacy as well as how such data is used.
If data is anonymized, then GDPR does not apply as to the personal data. However, to be considered anonymous, a key cannot exist that will make it possible to identify individuals. Hence, HIPAA de-identification information is only considered pseudonymized because using the key to the data exists that allows the data to be re-identified.
Individuals located in the EEA. It does not matter if the individual is a EEA citizen or EEA resident.
If a citizen of the EEA is located outside of the EEA while participating in a research study, GDPR will not apply as long as none of the organizations involved in the study are in the EEA and the data is not transferred into the EEA.
Generally, children under the age of 16 cannot consent to have their data processed (including having their responses to research processed) unless such processing is authorized by an individual who is parentally responsible for the child consents.
NOTE: Member states can consider a child to be less than 16 but no younger than 13 years of age. (See Article 8 of the GDPR)
Although the General Data Protection Recital 27 indicates that GDPR does not apply to the personal data of deceased individuals, each EEA member state can issue rules relative to the processing of the personal data of deceased individuals. Some EEA member states have passed such regulations- see personal data of deceased persons.
If the data is fully anonymized before receipt and your team does not receive a key to reidentify, then GDPR does not apply.
However, if you receive pseudonymized or personal data that has not been anonymized, then GDPR will apply if any of the following are true:
the data was collected by an organization located in the EEA;
collected from individuals while they were located in the EEA; or
transferred out of the EEA
Yes, GDPR applies if the personal data is currently being processed even if it was collected before the effective date if the data was collected by an organization located in the EEA; collected from individuals located in the EEA; or transferred out of the EEA. It does not matter when the data was originally collected just that it falls under one of the three criteria for being subject to GDPR.
If you can exclude the collection, storage, etc. of personal data from the EEA without adversely affecting your study, then you can apply methods aimed at excluding the collection of such data such as:
Using a question to identify if the individual responding to your survey study is in the EEA. Then if the individual answers self-identifies themselves as being in the EEA, discontinuing the survey based on that criteria.
If you are conducting telephone surveys, always ask those who you call if they are in the EEA if you are calling them based on a phone number that is not a landline tied to a specific location.
If you are mailing surveys, do not mail out surveys to individuals in the EEA.
1) Collect and process only the minimal amount of personal data. Collecting minimal amounts of personal data limits risks to privacy and lessens the risk of noncompliance.
2) To the degree possible, avoid collecting sensitive information or special/sensitive personal data such as:
3) Avoiding collection of information about criminal offenses or convictions as those can only be collected and processed if the research is being conducted under the control of an official authority of an EEA country or if the processing is authorized by EEA or the laws of a member state.
4) If you cannot anonymize the data, pseudonymize it. Pseudonymization means that you can identify who provided the data using a key that is kept separate from the data set as well as being protected from both technical and administrative measures. Keep in mind that reversing pseudonymization without an authorization represents a personal breach of data if it places the data subject at risk.
What are the University's breach notification obligations?
In the event that there is a data breach involving covered personal data of students,
employees, alumni, or vendors, the University will notify the appropriate supervisory
authorities within 72 hours, where feasible, after becoming aware of the breach, unless
the breach is unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of data subjects.
If the breach is likely to result in a high risk to their rights and freedoms, The University will also notify individual data subjects of a data breach regarding their personal data. The notification to data subjects will include the nature of the breach and recommended steps the data subject should take in order to mitigate potential adverse effects. Initial notification may be general in nature and as additional information is known a supplemental notice will be issued.
How does the University handle data transfers?
As needed, The University may transfer personal data outside of the EU and may also share personal data with third party organizations both within and outside of the EU. Where personal data is shared, The University will require that appropriate safeguards be implemented to protect the personal data. Safeguards include but are not limited to: requiring third parties to sign data security contracts (i.e. Data Protection Agreements (DPAs), and anonymizing data.
Click on the button below to submit a GDPR request. Click to login using SOAR user name and password; and then click on service request.
CLICK TO SUBMIT A GDPR REQUEST
Access the full text of the GDPR-
Review the exact text of the regulation by clicking the button below