GDPR, an acronym for General Data Protection Regulation, is a regulation that governs the data protection and data-sharing relationship between individuals living in the European Union (EU) and the providers of the online products and services they use. First proposed in 2012, it was adopted by the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission in 2016. At the time, online service providers were given 2 years to fully prepare for the regulations, which are to be enforced on the 25th of May 2018. GDPR has been likened to Y2K. It is the biggest overhaul of online privacy since the birth of the internet.