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Clive Anderson and guests ask whether the laws protecting our data are keeping up with technological change.

In May 2018, the EU brought in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It includes some of the strictest data protection rules in the world and covers everyone who handles data – from tech giants like Google and Facebook, to small family businesses keeping customer records.

Are these laws, and the regulators who enforce them, doing enough to keep our details safe? Are they sufficiently powerful to hold multinational corporations to account? Or does GDPR add layers of bureaucracy which hamper technological development? Cynthia O’Donoghue from law firm Reed Smith argues that high-tech medical interventions are being held back by over-regulation of the data they need to function.

The programme also considers the responsibilities of individuals to look after their own data, and the limits of consent in the online world.

Producer: Hannah Marshall
A 7digital production for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4