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I'm not a lawyer, but it my impression that the main thing that is different with the GDPR is the threat that it will actually get enforced. In discussions abo

by phicoh 9y ago

I'm not a lawyer, but it my impression that the main thing that is different with the GDPR is the threat that it will actually get enforced. In discussions about the GDPR I see things that are part of Dutch law for years, in some cases dating back to the 1970s. In practice nobody cared. In extreme cases the data protection authority would say something. But they were mostly understaffed.

icebraining 9y ago
I don't know about the Netherlands, but here in Portugal, they're pretty responsive. After someone complained, one of my neighbors got fined for posting PII in the building's lobby.
jimnotgym 9y ago
> I'm not a lawyer, but it my impression that the main thing that is different with the GDPR is the threat that it will actually get enforced I think you are dead right. GDPR is an incremental modernisation of the 1995 EU regulation. There have been a number of cases recently that have shown that Facebook, for instance, have been breaking the current EU law, but the national governments (Germany, Belgium recently) have had a hard time enforcing it in any meaningful way. GDPR will allow national governments to enforce their existing laws. If you are a US company who was breaking, for instance, the UK's Data Protection Act 1998 then I have very little sympathy if GDPR now breaks your business model. Breaking the law, but exploiting jurisdiction is not the kind of competitive advantage I will stand up for. BTW you can't opt out of the law in a EULA.
- avar 9y ago
  How will the GDPR allow EU member states to enforce pre-GDPR law? How was it simultaneously law and unenforceable before?
  - stordoff 9y ago
    As I understand it, the existing Directive has to be implemented by member states in domestic law. This makes it difficult for one member state to enforce action against a company incorporated in another. As a Regulation, the GDPR is directly binding and can be enforced at the EU level, rather than just at the national level. In some ways, it makes it easier to comply, because you just have one set of rules rather than multiple national implementations of the Directive.

by phicoh 9y ago

icebraining 9y ago

I don't know about the Netherlands, but here in Portugal, they're pretty responsive. After someone complained, one of my neighbors got fined for posting PII in the building's lobby.

jimnotgym 9y ago

> I'm not a lawyer, but it my impression that the main thing that is different with the GDPR is the threat that it will actually get enforced I think you are dead right. GDPR is an incremental modernisation of the 1995 EU regulation. There have been a number of cases recently that have shown that Facebook, for instance, have been breaking the current EU law, but the national governments (Germany, Belgium recently) have had a hard time enforcing it in any meaningful way. GDPR will allow national governments to enforce their existing laws. If you are a US company who was breaking, for instance, the UK's Data Protection Act 1998 then I have very little sympathy if GDPR now breaks your business model. Breaking the law, but exploiting jurisdiction is not the kind of competitive advantage I will stand up for. BTW you can't opt out of the law in a EULA.

avar 9y ago
How will the GDPR allow EU member states to enforce pre-GDPR law? How was it simultaneously law and unenforceable before?
- stordoff 9y ago
  As I understand it, the existing Directive has to be implemented by member states in domestic law. This makes it difficult for one member state to enforce action against a company incorporated in another. As a Regulation, the GDPR is directly binding and can be enforced at the EU level, rather than just at the national level. In some ways, it makes it easier to comply, because you just have one set of rules rather than multiple national implementations of the Directive.