Litigation » Meet The World’s Most Consequential Regulator

Meet The World’s Most Consequential Regulator

May 21, 2018

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Ireland’s data protection commissioner, Helen Dixon, will soon gain vast new powers to investigate and fine companies with headquarters in her country. Ireland is the European headquarters for Airbnb, Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter and Microsoft, which owns LinkedIn. Europe’s aggressive new General Data protection Regulation will come into effect on May 25. It will give more than 500 million people living in the EU the right to keep companies from collecting personal data, or to have it deleted. Dixon and her fellow regulators will be able to fine companies up to 4 percent of global revenue. For Facebook that is about $1.6 billion. Since becoming commissioner in 2014 Dixon has upgraded her office, hiring lawyers, investigators and engineers. The staff will total 140 this year, up from 30 when she joined, with plans to reach 200. She spent the first ten years of her career working for tech companies, and is said to be eager to test her new powers.

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