LiveRamp, an Acxiom company and leading provider of data onboarding and connectivity services, has become the first EU data onboarding specialist to be fully accredited under the new Privacy Shield regulations.
Certifying for Privacy Shield extends the data protection LiveRamp is now able to offer its clients the protection of Privacy Shield’s important safeguards to the transfer of data from Europe to the U.S.
LiveRamp is among the first global companies to achieve certification and joins others listed on the Privacy Shield website that have publicly committed to comply with the framework’s data protection requirements. To serve more than 7,000 global clients, LiveRamp has made extensive infrastructure investments. These include Global Service Centres in Europe and China and offices throughout the U.S. and internationally, including several European locations.
Richard Foster, UK Managing Director at LiveRamp said: “The issue of privacy when it comes to protecting consumer data from misuse is a critical one for the industry. Privacy Shield is a vital step forward from the previous Safe Harbour agreement in ensuring international regulation keeps pace with evolving technological developments. The transmission of EU consumer details internationally is playing a growing part of the UK and the EU’s digital development, but EU citizens have to be reassured that their native privacy rights are enshrined. LiveRamp places the highest priority on ensuring consumer details are properly respected and protected and we are proud to be the first onboarding business to gain certification.”
Developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission, the Privacy Shield enables companies on both sides of the Atlantic to rely on the Shield as the legal transfer mechanism for personal data from the EU to the U.S. The Shield provides important legal certainty, clearing up confusion that companies have struggled with since the invalidation of the Shield’s predecessor, the EU Safe Harbor, in the autumn of 2015.
Dr Sachiko Scheuing, European Data Privacy Officer and co-chair of FEDMA adds, “We worked hard with legislators in both the U.S. and EU to develop Privacy Shield, so it is gratifying to see our certification. This updated framework is essential for organisations on both sides of the Atlantic and developing the digital economies of the EU and US, while also ensuring citizens are adequately protected. The constant review process at the core of Privacy Shield will ensure that it keeps pace with international developments for the foreseeable future.”
As a complement to Privacy Shield, LiveRamp will continue to administer a robust data protection programme that includes other privacy enhancing measures, such as encryption, hashing and de-identification of personal data before transatlantic data transfer occurs. For certain data outside the scope of the Privacy Shield, other legal data transfer mechanisms will be used, including standard contractual clauses.
LiveRamp is an Acxiom company, one which has a long and established history of delivering solutions to the marketplace that include protections for consumer data. In addition to being the first company to hire a chief privacy officer more than 20 years ago, it was the first to create a portal (www.aboutthedata.com) that gives consumers the ability to manage how their data is used in their products, and the first to create a certified Safe Haven® environment with controls designed to ensure that data is managed ethically and in accordance with regional data protection requirements.
For more information about Privacy Shield, visit www.privacyshield.gov.