Forrester released its 2017 data privacy heat map, which evaluates privacy laws of 54 countries. The heat map includes guidelines about government surveillance, cross-border data transfers, and data center locations, as well as the impact of regulatory enforcements like GDPR — the most significant data privacy legislation to affect businesses across the globe.

Some key findings from Forrester’s annual heat map include:

  • EU adoption of GDPR has inspired national variations to emerge. Countries outside Europe are converging toward EU requirements. This year Nigeria passed its first comprehensive cybercrime legislation while Japan established an independent regulatory body.

  • More countries are increasing government surveillance. France and Germany’s privacy scores shifted due to increased government surveillance; Poland passed legislation expanding government access to digital data; and Brazil passed a bill triggering concerns over government-sanctioned censorship.

  • Data centers are multiplying. Canada, France, and Germany have seen the number of data center facilities multiply in recent years, despite historically having regulations that make it difficult to export personal data to other jurisdictions.

Feel free to check out the interactive heat map, and please contact us if you’d like a copy of this report.