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For startups - GDPR is like Y2K at the time, a GOLDMINE. Unless you're a start-up that handles personal data, in which case it's another bureaucratic overhead

For startups - GDPR is like Y2K at the time, a GOLDMINE. Unless you're a start-up that handles personal data, in which case it's another bureaucratic overhead that also carries a risk of draconian penalties if you make a mistake, even if you have perfectly sensible reasons for working with that data and you're not doing anything at all surprising or dubious with it. Of course, the EU has form for this, given its similar approach to both consumer protection and VAT rules in recent years. It does seem to have an unhelpful habit of imposing regulations at big business scale to deal with big business scale problems, but not considering that both of these may be wildly disproportionate for smaller businesses.

riffraff 9y ago
> a risk of draconian penalties if you make a mistake, even if you have perfectly sensible reasons for working with that data and you're not doing anything at all surprising or dubious with it. GDPR explicitly mentions that "warnings" and "periodic data audits" should be considered measures to take before the fine is applied. It also says[0] that when deciding on the fine, due regard shall be given to nature, gravity, and duration of the infringement; degree of cooperation, intention or negligence, actions previously taken by the authorities, previous infringements, nature of data etc. It seems unlikely that anyone in good faith would get screwed by this. [0] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679#d1e6226-1-1 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELE...
- Silhouette 9y ago
  It seems unlikely that anyone in good faith would get screwed by this. Most small businesses don't have a lot of outside investment, if any. If you're running a bootstrapped business funded with your own savings, the last thing you need is to have to spend significant time and money figuring out where you stand on GDPR compliance and what you have to do with regards to any other organisations that your business in turn depends on. The theoretical fines aren't the most immediate problem for small businesses; the overheads are.

riffraff 9y ago

> a risk of draconian penalties if you make a mistake, even if you have perfectly sensible reasons for working with that data and you're not doing anything at all surprising or dubious with it. GDPR explicitly mentions that "warnings" and "periodic data audits" should be considered measures to take before the fine is applied. It also says[0] that when deciding on the fine, due regard shall be given to nature, gravity, and duration of the infringement; degree of cooperation, intention or negligence, actions previously taken by the authorities, previous infringements, nature of data etc. It seems unlikely that anyone in good faith would get screwed by this. [0] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679#d1e6226-1-1 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELE...

Silhouette 9y ago
It seems unlikely that anyone in good faith would get screwed by this. Most small businesses don't have a lot of outside investment, if any. If you're running a bootstrapped business funded with your own savings, the last thing you need is to have to spend significant time and money figuring out where you stand on GDPR compliance and what you have to do with regards to any other organisations that your business in turn depends on. The theoretical fines aren't the most immediate problem for small businesses; the overheads are.