What Europe’s Tough New Data Law Means for You, and the Internet - The New York Times

On a related note, see Who Strikes Fear Into Silicon Valley? Margrethe Vestager, Europe’s Antitrust Enforcer (NYT) and The agency in charge of policing Facebook and Google is 103 years old. Can it modernize? (Washington Post)

"Much will depend on how strictly national regulators enforce the rules, and how they use their tight budgets. Data-protection agencies in each European Union country will be in charge of policing the companies that have European headquarters within its borders.

That oversight structure is leading to concerns that officials in countries such as Ireland, where Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and many other data-heavy companies are based, will be overmatched.

A lot of responsibility also falls on you to keep tabs on how companies use your data.

The General Data Protection Regulation provides ways to take action if your information is being misused. But the question is whether people care enough, or if trading privacy for convenience remains a worthwhile deal."

What Europe’s Tough New Data Law Means for You, and the Internet - The New York Times