I think we have all recentrly received one (and probably more) of these wonderful mails stating "we have your data, if you want us to keep talking to you let us know". In case you were wondering, this is a side effect of GDPR; and in my opinion an excellent one. Yet many people - including some respected and high profile GDPR experts and "experts" - take the opportunity to attack the senders. But I think this is the wrong reaction.

Reality check people!

Come one people, get real. The fact that we receive these emails means that the companies that sent them already have our data. Their problem is that they most probably cannot figure out how they obtained our data. In some cases they even obtained it assuming consent; which was acceptable in the past, but coming GDPR it is not allowed any more. Consent has to be explicit - not implicit (opt-in vs opt-out).

For whatever reason, the fact is that these companies are doing the right thing. They ask us to consent, otherwise they will delete our data. Although this remains to be confirmed (if our data will really be deleted), the idea that some companies that had our data won't have it anymore unless we consent, is a relief and indeed an attestation of the need and usefulness of GDPR.

Still, the experts and the "experts" whine like it's a bad thing. I wonder if they prefer the companies that do NOT send these emails, yet they decide to keep (and use, and mine, and share) our data? Pretty much like an ostrich which according to the myth is quite comfortable hiding its head in the sand to not see the danger.

I really hope that these "experts" don't believe that companies should just delete (and then try to re-collect and re-correlate ) that data. This won't work for 95% of the companies and that would mean that these experts have very limited understanding of how companies work.

P.S. The Ostrich thing is indeed a myth, still it is a common misconception that serves nicely as an example for people who pretend to not see the real problem.