But when we dutifully got to grips with the subject matter, we had to admit that the new privacy legislation made us think deeply about the personal data we store and how we secure it.
GDPR for a translation agency, what does that involve?
As a translation agency, we regularly receive source texts which include personal data. This may include names, telephone numbers and email addresses, but also other details such as biographies. This data is passed on to our translators – admittedly using a secure portal – who are also required to take the necessary measures to prevent the misuse of this data.
So what action have we taken?
We attended a really good GDPR workshop and teamed up with a specialist. After exchanging a few emails with the data protection authority, we started to see things more clearly. We wrote an action plan and got down to work:
- We created a data register.
- We installed an extra firewall and ensured the automatic encryption of all the files on our data server. As a result, your texts are now even better protected against data leaks and misuse.
- We alerted our translators to their responsibilities and incorporated these commitments into an official processing agreement.
- We wrote a privacy policy and published it on our website.
What can you do?
As a client, you can help us a great deal by leaving personal data out of your source texts wherever possible. For example, press contacts can easily be removed from a press release and then put back in again later.
It goes without saying that unshared data is the most secure. If you really need to leave personal data in a source text – sometimes it is unavoidable, after all – please just let us know. That way we can be sure to take extra security measures and delete the texts in good time. Our privacy policy tells you which personal data is stored and for how long. Do you have any questions? Call us, write to us, send us a message. Although perhaps not in a bottle. Oh no, now I can’t get that old tune out of my head…