If you are still on an old school fixed pixel width website and haven't as yet upgraded to a responsive template and become mobile friendly, you will want to know that Google is migrating to mobile-first indexing for its search engine.
​
(see Rolling out mobile-first indexing on the Official Google Webmaster blog) .

Mobile-first indexing means that Google will use the mobile version of the page for indexing and ranking.

This in part reflects that most people using search are now on a mobile device.

This means:

• sites using responsive web design or dynamic serving are generally set for mobile-first indexing.
• sites which have two versions of their site will continue to have the non-mobile version used for indexing.

In addition, starting in July 2018, web content that is slow-loading may perform less well for both desktop and mobile searchers.

You'll find out if your site is affected via the Google Search Console (new name for Google Webmaster)

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An artist asked me a question about PayPal and GDPR this morning.
The nub of it is as follows...

• she sells art through her website - and accepts PayPal for payments
• she checked on her account and the past history (from way back) still includes past customers' names, addresses and email addresses. Plus their payment method may or may not have stored by PayPal.

It immediately struck me that this is a question that a lot of artists are going to be asking given the way PayPal is now entrenched as a form of payment for art being marketed and sold online.

​ What she wants to know is 

1. what has PayPal done about GDPR?; 
2. whose responsibility is it to keep this personal data safe?
3. how should she tell customers about whether or not they are compliant if she doesn't know!)?  
4. who is responsible re. data protection if somebody hacks into her Paypal account which carries all this data?

This is a really good question! Also one which it appears LOTS of people would like answers to.

• If you insert GDPR into their Help System it comes up with precisely zilch!
• If you put PayPal and GDPR into Google you don't get a lot of help.
• However there is one PayPal Stories Article called Getting GDPR Ready (relevant to those in the UK - I'm guessing everbody gets their country equivalent if they look online). Interestingly it says NOTHING about what PayPal will be doing in terms of processing your customer's personal data!

I  was told that PayPal has updated its legal agreements. See PayPal's Policy Updates page for the upcoming changes.

These include:

• Notice of amendment to the PayPal User Agreement. Effective Date: May 25, 2018 (i.e. GDPR Implementation date) - this includes changes relevant to the 1. Control and protection of personal data
• Notice of amendment to the PayPal Privacy Policy Effective Date: May 25, 2018 - find the amended PayPal Privacy Policy by clicking here

I don't think Paypal has any option - in processing personal data for EU residents it must by default comply with GDPR and all its requirements

All uses of PayPal accounts are also responsible for using appropriate means for keep access to the account limited to those who should have access eg using two levels of protection - password and a code sent to your phone.

Anybody else got any thoughts on this - or seen anything relevant?

I guess we have less than 60 days to find out the answers!

I have no doubt there will be answers - it's very evident from the policy changes so far that GDPR applies to them. The question is how many more changes are they likely to make.

Both are - for their respective "ways in" to the system.

Comments are very welcome on this topic as are links to helpful articles or webpages on this topic. I'll add them into the DPDR Resource Page if we get a lot.

On the 25th May 2018 - in less than 60 days - The General Data Protection Regulation comes into effect. It affects everyone and every organisation having data transactions with individuals who live/work in the European Union.

This blog post is about resources I've been trying to pull together about GDPR - for artists and art organisations - societies, charities, schools, galleries etc.

This means it INCLUDES:

• ART SUPPLIERS - all those artists / art organisations - wherever they are located - aiming to market art and art-related services to people located in the EU
• SUPPLIES FOR ARTISTS - all those organisations - wherever they are located - aiming to market their goods and services (eg art materials, websites) to artists and art organisations located in the EU.

NEW PAGE Today I'm launching my new resource page about General Data Protection Regulation ​for Artists and Art Organisations. - which is very much a work in progress.  You can find it in the Office Practices section of the website. The art organisations include: art societies, art galleries, art dealers and art schools.

Previously, I've written two long blog posts on Making A Mark: 

• Got the GDPR Jitters? 10 things you need to know as an artist / art society / art gallery
• Is your art organisation or business ready for GDPR - the replacement of the Data Protection Act? ​

The NEW PAGE includes links to useful resources not included in the blog post and builds upon what I've previously written. I'm still looking and still finding new resources which might be helpful - but you may have to do a lot of reading.

RECOMMENDATION: Besides the links to the publications and resources produced by the Information Commission (first section), the section I'd suggest people take a look at is that relating to Issues for Art Organisations. It includes a very useful document written by The Arts Society providing guidance to its branch societies.

I'm also hoping to develop a section for "Artists as Sole Traders".

The one thing I have discovered is that more and more information is being published the closer we get to 25th May - and it's likely that a lot more will emerge as issues are tested in the courts thereafter.

​Bottom line - this is a live issue for anybody who is creating transactions involving the personal data of anybody living in the EU.

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