Santa’s Naughty List, Lessons For Data Retention

Data Protection Made Easy Podcast, Episode 228 – Hosted by Caine Glancy and Special Guest Katerina Douni

This week’s episode takes a festive look at one of the most common challenges in data protection, knowing what to keep, what to delete, and what to safely archive. Inspired by Santa’s famous naughty list, Caine Glancy and first time guest host Katarina Douni lead a lively discussion on data retention, storage limitation, and the practical steps organisations can take to stay compliant without holding information for longer than needed.

Katarina joined the podcast for her debut session and quickly set the tone with a clear message, many organisations continue to struggle with retention. She explored why data decisions matter, how retention periods should be approached, and why email is often the biggest culprit for uncontrolled storage. The session sparked strong engagement from our live audience and the chat was filled with questions, examples, and shared challenges around retention, erasure, and day to day pressures inside busy teams.

Caine and Katarina walked listeners through common problems such as the over use of email as a filing system, storing information long after its purpose has expired, and the difficulty teams face when deciding how long is long enough. They also discussed the risks of under collecting or over collecting information, the impact this has on storage limitation, and how organisations can simplify their retention rules to reduce confusion and avoid unnecessary risk.

As always, the live chat added a valuable layer to the discussion. Attendees shared their own retention periods, debated tricky scenarios, and raised questions that pushed the session further. The interactive nature of the podcast remains one of its key strengths and gives practitioners the chance to test ideas, compare approaches, and learn from each other in real time.

This episode is ideal for anyone who handles personal data, manages email systems, or oversees compliance. It provides clear explanations, relatable examples, and practical steps that can be applied immediately. With year end approaching, the timing could not be better for organisations reviewing their retention schedules or tackling email backlogs.

If you listened back on Spotify and want to join a future episode live, you can request an invite by emailing info@dataprotectionpeople.com. Live attendees can take part in the chat, ask questions, and access the deeper insight that comes from community discussion.

We host Data Protection Made Easy every Friday at 12:30 and new listeners are always welcome. Our community continues to grow each week with hundreds joining live and many more tuning in through audio platforms.

If you work in the housing sector, you may also be interested in our upcoming in person STAIRs event taking place on the 5th of February. Details can be found on our website and on LinkedIn.

Listen below and enjoy this festive and practical dive into data retention.