In this support article, we cover the following topics:
What is GDPR?
GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), took effect May 25th 2018. A European privacy law, GDPR imposes new 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.
What is CCPA?
On January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) went into effect and enforcement began on July 1, 2020. The CCPA is a California privacy law that is applicable to businesses doing business in California and that meet one of three revenue thresholds. It also applies to service providers of those businesses, who are defined under the CCPA as a company handling PI on behalf of a business, for a business purpose.
Closing Your GCS Account
In the Google Cloud Security Community, you can close your Community account permanently. You will be signed out as soon as the account is closed. You can find more information on closing your account in our related support article
Download Your Content Prior to Account Closure
When GDPR is enabled, Community members who decide to leave the Community can request a download of their content before they close their accounts. To download your Community content and personal information please fill out this form.
Community Contributions After Account Closure
Your contributions (posts, comments) and engagement (kudos, accepted solutions) will be retained in the community after account closure. They will be associated with an anonymous user account, identified as 'Anonymous', that has a default avatar to distinguish it from other users.
PII Data in Posts, Replies, etc.
You are advised not to share any personal data in posts or attachments, and the Community moderation policy is expected to enforce this. The user account closure option does not systematically auto-clear any personal data inadvertently included in posts, attachments, messages, etc. This falls under the purview of manual Community moderation, meaning that not all PII may be caught.
Account Closure ETA
The estimated time it takes to close an account is 24-48 business hours.
Recovering a Closed Account
A closed account cannot be recovered if you change your decision at a later time. You can sign up again with the same email address, but this process does NOT recover your community account. It treats the user as a fresh new user and none of your previous contributions can be restored.
Reusing a Username
If available, you 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 use.