>Yes, I should be omniscient. Thanks for clearing that up.
Not omniscient but being able to plan ahead does help a lot, yes.
> It's not about looking at what they have.
Yes, because they only collect what's necessary and if they don't have that they ask if it's necessary and collect it.
>I can't figure out what my company will be doing in a year, and waiting another year to collect the data I already have could see me hemorrhaging money.
Then simply ask your customers to hand over data with consent to use it for analytics, problem solved, no?
>Which is an absolutely silly notion. It is the company's data, not the users.
No. Under GDPR this is no longer the case. The data belongs to the user now because corporations have shown time and time again that owning the user data is too much responsibility for them.
You do not own the customer data anymore, the customers own it. And they can decide what you're allowed to do with it.
It's perfectly in line with existing German Data Regulations (although they get a minor update too with the DSGVO coming along with the GDPR). Data retention laws in Germany supersede the GDPR. The GDPR itself also mentions that any regulation and law in your jurisdiction may supersede anything in it.
Even that data isn't owned by you. You are merely responsible for keeping it safe while you have to store it. Ultimately it's the customers data. End of story.
Not omniscient but being able to plan ahead does help a lot, yes.
> It's not about looking at what they have.
Yes, because they only collect what's necessary and if they don't have that they ask if it's necessary and collect it.
>I can't figure out what my company will be doing in a year, and waiting another year to collect the data I already have could see me hemorrhaging money.
Then simply ask your customers to hand over data with consent to use it for analytics, problem solved, no?
>Which is an absolutely silly notion. It is the company's data, not the users.
No. Under GDPR this is no longer the case. The data belongs to the user now because corporations have shown time and time again that owning the user data is too much responsibility for them.
You do not own the customer data anymore, the customers own it. And they can decide what you're allowed to do with it.
End of story.