Melissa, a provider of global contact data quality and identity verification solutions, is introducing Privacy Flag, a new feature in its comprehensive Global Email Verification suite designed to verify email addresses and improve overall email deliverability.
Privacy Flag draws attention to customer emails that are more likely to require additional controls to remain compliant with regulations such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Privacy Flag scans top level domains or countries that may be sensitive to increased privacy restrictions. Email addresses are flagged for caution, for example those with a top level domain of ‘.de.’
Enterprises benefit from these additional cautions as privacy legislation continues to advance worldwide, influenced heavily by the European Union’s leadership role.
Rulings such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) emulate this role in the continental U.S., going into effect January 2020 with other U.S. states anticipated to follow.
Globally, additional countries are also following suit in making privacy a priority. India is gearing up for new data protection laws, with its Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) currently in draft mode, just as Singapore is promoting consumer rights in pending legislative changes to its Personal Data Protection Act (PPDA). In South America, Brazil has initiated its own General Data Privacy Law which closely resembles GDPR.
“These laws require a level of preparedness that many enterprises have yet to understand, let alone incorporate into business operations. And while various new laws may initially seem regional, they apply to any company with a worldwide customer base,” said Çagdas Gandar, Managing Director Europe, Melissa. “The key takeaway here is that handling, storing, and using customer data requires more attention than ever before — and seamless data quality plays a critical role in success. In addition to overall operations such as keeping customer data standardized, verified, and deduplicated, tools such as Privacy Flag add value to the compliance toolkit, helping businesses recognize and focus on managing risk globally.”
For more information about this release, visit www.melissa.com.