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In this support article, we cover the following topics:
- What is GDPR?
- What is CCPA?
- Closing Your GCC Account
- Download Your Content Prior to Account Closure
- Deleting PII Data
- Community Contributions After Account Closure
- PII Data in Posts, Replies, etc.
- Account Closure ETA
- Recovering a Closed Account
- Reusing a Username
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 GCC Account
In the Google Cloud 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. 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 download their content before they close their accounts. To download your Community content and personal information:
- Sign in to the Google Cloud Community
- Click on your avatar to open the drop-down menu and select 'My settings'.
- Navigate to Personal > Personal Information.
- Under Downloads, click 'My personal information' to download your PII information and click 'My community content' to download your community content.
You can read more about how to view and export personal data and further information on privacy and the Google Cloud Community in our Privacy Policy. It can be found at the bottom of the screen, in the footer of the page.
Deleting PII Data
Users are able to partially delete PII data. In other words, users are able to delete one or more of the identified PII fields selectively.
Community Contributions After Account Closure
A user's contribution (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 'Former Community User', that has 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 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 30 days.
Recovering a Closed Account
A closed account cannot be recovered if a user changes their decision at a later time. 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 use.
