What is GDPR?

GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), took effect May 25th 2018. A European privacy law, GDPR imposes rules on companies, government agencies, non-profits, and other organizations that offer goods and services to people in the European Union (EU), or that collect and analyze data tied to EU residents. GDPR applies no matter where you are located.

Closing Your Community Account

In the community, the user can close their community account permanently. The user will be signed out as soon as the account is closed. Closure clears all Personally Identifiable Information (PII) fields in the community.

Download Your Content Prior to Account Deletion

When GDPR is enabled, Community members can opt to download their content before closing their account. To download your community content and personal information:

1. Sign into the Community.
2. Click on your avatar in the top right and select My Settings.
   
3. Navigate to Security & Account.
   
4. Scroll to the Download Data section to download a copy of your Posts & Replies or Personal Information.
   

Deleting PII Data

Users can partially delete PII data. In other words, users will be able to delete one or more of the identified PII fields selectively.

Community Contributions After Account Deletion

A user's contribution (posts, comments) and engagement (kudos, accepted solutions) will be retained in the community after account deletion. They will be associated with an anonymous user. The "Anonymous User" will have a standard username and a default avatar to distinguish it from other users.

PII Data in Posts, Replies, etc.

Users are advised not to share any personal data in posts or attachments, and the Community moderation policy is expected to enforce this. The "users delete option" will not systematically auto clear any personal data inadvertently included in posts, attachments, messages, etc. This will fall under the scope of Community moderation.

SLA for Account close

The SLA for Account close is 30 days.

Recovering a Deleted Account

A deleted account cannot be recovered if a user changes their mind later. The user will need to wait 10 days before they can sign up again with the same email address, but this process does NOT recover the user's community account. It treats the user as a fresh new user and none of their previous contributions can be restored.

Reusing a Username

After the required wait time, and if available, the user might be able to use the same username in the Community. However, it will be treated as a new account with no association to the previous user.