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I wish more penalties were like this. This sounds great. Now these companies will finally have real incentive to comply. Hell, the percentages should be higher.
by mnm1 9y ago
I wish more penalties were like this. This sounds great. Now these companies will finally have real incentive to comply. Hell, the percentages should be higher. That's the only way to enforce regulations. Otherwise, they'll just pay a puny fine, American style, and not do shit.
- usaphp 9y agoIt's a percent from revenue not from profit. So 5% from google revenue is a lot
- mnm1 9y agoThat's even better. The more the better.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- trashtester 9y agoIt is. On the other hand, companies like Google/Facebook/MS/Apple have such huge profit margins that a conviction will be but a speed bump, and given that their business model is based on the data regulated by GDPR to such a great extent, one may expect them to challenge the new regulations as much as they can. They also (probably) have the most competent legal divisions, which will help them exploit any gray areas. For companies with lower profit margins or companies that are hit by the lower limit of $20M euro, the threat is much greater. Small companies may go immediately bancrupt from a $20M euro fine, while companies with slimmer margins may be taken from black to red results by a 4% fine. From my pesonal experience, many such companies do not fully grasp to what extent these regulations will affect their business models if actually enforced.
- jpetso 9y agoYeah, but 4%/20m is only the third strike. If as a small company you're unwilling or unable to fix those issues in a reasonable time frame after the first two strikes, you might not deserve to survive as a business in the first place.
- golemotron 9y agoI've never understood what would happen if Google or Facebook just ignored EU regulations, claimed that they were not under the EU's jurisdiction, and ignored any judgement. Would the EU erect a great firewall at that point?
- keldaris 9y agoCouldn't they just take the money owed the usual way, by freezing accounts, confiscating assets, etc.? None of these corporations can feasibly avoid that without exiting EU markets altogether.
- tajen 9y agoPlus, as long as both EU and US are part of WTO, they are required to enforce each other's laws. Otherwise Europe could legitimately raise tariffs for the whole IT sector...
- bradleyjg 9y ago> None of these corporations can feasibly avoid that without exiting EU markets altogether. Ultimately if the fines or compliance costs get too high that's exactly what happens. A company that does no business in the EU is not subject to EU rules. But because it is such a large and wealthy market the threshold is very high. If Kazakstan passed a similar law it'd be a very different story.
- tombrossman 9y agoGoogle has assets within the EU which means ignoring EU laws is not an option, unless Google are prepared to forfeit those assets. It's not really a decision they have the authority to make anyhow. Imagine the shareholder lawsuits!
- kobeya 9y agoShareholders filing lawsuits because the company refused to give away money to a fine?
- M2Ys4U 9y ago>Hell, the percentages should be higher. The European Parliament wanted a higher percentage but that got negotiated down during discussions with the Council of the European Union.