According to research by the US-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), regulation changes are demanding for data. The NBER estimates that the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has led the 20 million companies operating in the EU to both store and process less data, resulting in the cost of GDPR compliance from a cloud computing perspective ranging from $1.7 million for SMEs to $70 million for large enterprises.
The study used data from an unnamed cloud provider during 2015-2021 to compare data and computation use between similar EU and US organisations post-GDPR. The study found that EU firms stored 26% less data on average than their US counterparts and reduced data processing by 15% after the GDPR. As a consequence, the GDPR made data storage 20% more expensive for businesses on average.
The authors refrained from making a judgement on whether the increased privacy from GDPR is worth the cost.
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