Data privacy compliance

Data Privacy Compliance

Overview

Privacy compliance went from "nice to have" to "existential requirement." GDPR fines reach 4% of global annual revenue or €20M (whichever is higher). CCPA allows private lawsuits. Enterprise customers won't sign without a DPA and SCCs. The mistake: treating privacy as a legal checkbox instead of an operational program. This skill covers the complete privacy compliance roadmap for B2B SaaS: GDPR, CCPA, cookie consent, DPAs, SCCs, and building a privacy program that passes enterprise security reviews.

Authoritative Foundations

• GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679) — Lawful basis, data minimization, DPA requirements for EU buyers.
• CCPA/CPRA (California Consumer Privacy Act / California Privacy Rights Act) — Shapes deliverables for this skill — Privacy compliance went from "nice to have" to "existential requirement.
• ePrivacy Directive (EU Cookie Law) — Shapes deliverables for this skill — Privacy compliance went from "nice to have" to "existential requirement.
• IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals) — Shapes deliverables for this skill — Privacy compliance went from "nice to have" to "existential requirement.
• NIST Privacy Framework — Shapes deliverables for this skill — Privacy compliance went from "nice to have" to "existential requirement.
• Termly / Iubenda — Privacy compliance tools — Privacy compliance tools

When to Use

Trigger phrases: "GDPR compliance", "CCPA requirements", "data privacy for SaaS", "cookie consent banner", "Data Processing Agreement", "Standard Contractual Clauses", "SCCs", "privacy by design", "data subject access request", "DPIA", "privacy program", "enterprise privacy requirements"

Step-by-Step Process

Phase 1: Privacy Law Scoping

Which laws apply to you?

Law	Applies If	Key Requirements	Penalty
GDPR	You process data of ANY person in the EU/UK (regardless of where your company is)	Lawful basis, consent/legitimate interest, DPA, data subject rights, breach notification (72 hrs), DPO (in some cases)	Up to 4% of global annual revenue or €20M
CCPA/CPRA	$25M+ revenue OR 100K+ California consumers OR 50%+ revenue from selling data	Right to know/delete/opt-out, privacy notice, data inventory	$2,500 per violation ($7,500 intentional) + private right of action
ePrivacy	You use cookies or tracking in the EU	Cookie consent before non-essential cookies, clear disclosure	Up to 4% of global revenue
PIPEDA (Canada)	Processing Canadian personal data	Consent, purpose limitation, safeguards	Up to CAD $100K per violation
LGPD (Brazil)	Processing Brazilian personal data	Similar to GDPR — consent, rights, breach notification	Up to 2% of Brazilian revenue (capped at R$50M)
State laws (US)	Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, etc.	Similar to CCPA — varies by state	Varies

Rule of thumb for B2B SaaS: If you have ANY customers in the EU, GDPR applies. If you have ANY users in California and meet thresholds, CCPA applies. If you have a website, ePrivacy applies to EU visitors. If you don't know your users' locations — assume all three apply.

Phase 2: GDPR Compliance Roadmap

Step 1: Data Inventory / Data Mapping

• Document: what data you collect, where it's stored, who has access, where it's processed, how long you keep it, and your legal basis for processing
• Tools: spreadsheets work for early stage. OneTrust, DataGrail, or Securiti for scale

Step 2: Determine Your Role

• Data Controller: You decide what data to collect and why. Most SaaS companies are controllers of their customer data.
• Data Processor: You process data on behalf of someone else. AWS is your processor. You are the controller.
• Sub-Processor: Your vendors who process data (AWS, Stripe, Intercom, HubSpot, etc.)

Step 3: Establish Lawful Basis for Processing

• Consent: User explicitly agrees (checkbox, not pre-ticked)
• Contractual necessity: Processing required to fulfill a contract
• Legitimate interest: You have a valid business reason that doesn't override user rights (requires Legitimate Interest Assessment)
• Legal obligation: Required by law
• Vital interests: Protecting life (rare for SaaS)

Step 4: Privacy Policy

• Must be: concise, transparent, in plain language, easily accessible
• Must include: what data, why, how long, who it's shared with, user rights, international transfers, DPO contact if applicable
• See: legal-for-founders skill for Privacy Policy template

Step 5: Data Processing Agreement (DPA)

• Required between Controller and Processor
• Must include: subject matter, duration, nature, purpose, types of data, categories of data subjects, processor obligations
• Your sub-processors (AWS, etc.) provide DPAs to you
• You provide a DPA to your enterprise customers
• Have a DPA template ready before enterprise customers ask for it

Step 6: Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs)

• Required for transferring personal data from EU to "third countries" (including the US) without an adequacy decision
• New SCCs (June 2021): modular format, must complete a Transfer Impact Assessment (TIA)
• Most US SaaS companies need SCCs for EU customer data

Step 7: Data Subject Rights (DSARs)

• Right to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing, data portability, object to processing
• Must respond within 30 days (extendable to 90)
• Must verify identity before fulfilling
• Build a process: how will you find, extract, and delete a user's data?

Step 8: Breach Notification

• Notify supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware
• Notify affected data subjects "without undue delay" if high risk
• Have an incident response plan with breach notification procedures

Step 9: Data Protection Officer (DPO)

• Required if: public authority, large-scale systematic monitoring, or large-scale processing of sensitive data
• Most early-stage B2B SaaS does NOT need a DPO
• Can outsource DPO-as-a-Service if needed

Phase 3: Cookie Consent

Required for EU visitors (ePrivacy Directive + GDPR):

1. Cookie banner: Appears on first visit. Must include:

   • What cookies you use and why
   • Option to accept all, reject all, or customize
   • "Accept All" and "Reject All" must be equally prominent
   • NO pre-ticked boxes (illegal under GDPR)
   • NO "by continuing to browse, you accept" (illegal)

2. Cookie categories: Necessary, Preferences, Statistics, Marketing

   • Necessary: can't be disabled (session, auth, CSRF)
   • All others: must be opt-in

3. Cookie consent tools:

   • CookieYes (free-$10/mo)
   • Cookiebot ($12/mo+)
   • Termly ($10/mo+)
   • OneTrust (free basic, enterprise pricing)

Phase 4: CCPA/CPRA Compliance

If you meet CCPA thresholds ($25M+ revenue OR 100K+ CA consumers OR 50%+ revenue from data sales):

1. Privacy notice at collection
2. "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link on homepage
3. "Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information" link
4. Respond to requests: know, delete, correct, opt-out within 45 days
5. Data retention schedule
6. Contracts with service providers (similar to DPAs)
7. Risk assessments for processing (CPRA addition)

Phase 5: Privacy Tech Stack

Tool	What It Does	Cost
Termly	Privacy Policy, ToS, Cookie Consent	$10-20/mo
Iubenda	Privacy Policy, Cookie Consent, ToS (multi-language)	$9-29/mo
CookieYes	Cookie consent banner, scanning	Free-$10/mo
OneTrust	Full privacy management (enterprise)	Custom
DataGrail	DSAR automation, data mapping	Custom
Securiti	Privacy ops, data mapping, DSAR	Custom

Output Format

DATA PRIVACY PROGRAM — [Company]

Applicable Laws: [GDPR, CCPA, ePrivacy, etc.]

DATA MAP: [link to data inventory]

LAWFUL BASES: [per data category, per purpose]

KEY DOCUMENTS (status):
- [ ] Privacy Policy — [published / draft / needs review]
- [ ] Cookie Consent Banner — [implemented / needed]
- [ ] DPA (outbound to customers) — [template ready / needed]
- [ ] DPAs (inbound from vendors) — [collected from: list]
- [ ] SCCs — [in place / not needed / needed for: list]
- [ ] DSAR procedure — [documented / needed]
- [ ] Breach notification procedure — [documented / needed]

PRIVACY TOOLS:
- Cookie consent: [tool]
- Privacy policy: [tool]
- DSAR management: [tool]

ANNUAL REVIEW: [date / trigger]

Implementation Checklist

• Data map completed (know what data you have and where)
• Privacy policy published — accurate, not copy-pasted
• Cookie consent banner live (if EU visitors)
• DPA template ready for enterprise customers
• SCCs in place for EU→US data transfers (if applicable)
• DSAR procedure documented (how to handle access/deletion requests)
• Breach notification procedure documented (72-hour clock)
• Sub-processor list maintained (DPA from each vendor)
• Annual privacy review scheduled

Quality Check

Before delivering, verify:

• Output matches the user's stated request
• Named frameworks or sources are reflected in the recommendation
• The deliverable is specific enough for an agent to execute
• Any assumptions, risks, or dependencies are explicit
• No unsupported claims, invented facts, or private/internal references are included

Common Pitfalls

1. Copy-pasted privacy policy. "We don't use cookies" while using Google Analytics, Stripe, and Intercom = false statement, GDPR violation. Fix: Document what you actually do. Update when your stack changes.

2. No DPA ready for enterprise. Enterprise customer asks for DPA. You don't have one. Deal stalls for weeks while you scramble. Fix: Have a DPA template ready. Termly can generate one.

3. Pre-ticked cookie consent. "Accept All" is pre-selected. This is illegal under GDPR. CNIL (France) fined Google €150M for this. Fix: "Accept All" and "Reject All" must be equally prominent. Nothing pre-ticked.

4. No breach notification plan. Breach happens Friday at 9pm. No one knows what to do. 72-hour clock is ticking. Monday morning: GDPR violation + breach exposure. Fix: Incident response plan with notification triggers and templates.

5. Ignoring CCPA until $25M. CCPA has a private right of action for data breaches. You don't need to hit the threshold to get sued for a breach. Fix: Implement reasonable security measures regardless of revenue.

6. Forgetting about vendor sub-processors. You sign a DPA with a customer promising GDPR compliance — but you never collected DPAs from your own vendors (AWS, Intercom, etc.). Fix: Collect and maintain DPAs from all sub-processors. Share the list with enterprise customers.

⚠️ Disclaimer

This skill provides general informational guidance based on publicly available frameworks and operator experience. It is NOT legal advice, accounting advice, tax advice, financial advice, insurance advice, or professional services advice.

Consult qualified professionals for your specific situation — attorneys for legal/equity matters, CPAs for tax and accounting, licensed brokers for insurance, and certified security assessors for compliance. This skill does not create a professional-client relationship. Use it as a starting point for research and preparation.

Execution Artifacts

• references/framework-notes.md — Named frameworks and reference tables
• templates/output-template.md — Deliverable shell for agent output
• scripts/check-output.py — Lightweight deliverable validator

Related Skills

• legal-for-founders — Incorporation, ToS, Privacy Policy, IP
• soc2-compliance — Security compliance that supports privacy
• security-assessments — Vendor security reviews, pen testing
• vendor-contracts — DPAs, vendor security agreements
• business-insurance — Cyber insurance (privacy breaches)