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I didn’t refer to Germany as lawless. In fact they have gone the other direction - they have laws on the books that are so broadly written that any foreign corp

I didn’t refer to Germany as lawless. In fact they have gone the other direction - they have laws on the books that are so broadly written that any foreign corporation can be caught up in them without intent to violate them. It’s also rather convenient that with GDPR, Europe has created a sweeping regulation that happens to disproportionately affect and is sure to generate massive fines from deep-pocketed corporations based outside of Europe. Do you think that is a coincidence?

JumpCrisscross 9y ago
> Do you think that is a coincidence? Facebook broke laws, was fined by courts and regulators in multiple countries, kept breaking laws, made a mess on both sides of the Atlantic, lied about what happened and then tried to throw it under the rug. Meanwhile, leaks from inside show zero repentance or even cognizance among employees of something having gone wrong. The EU is addressing this failure with regulation; we'll solve it more decisively by breaking Facebook up.
- downandout 9y ago
  we'll solve it more decisively by breaking Facebook up. Good luck with that. Facebook is not based in a socialist country. In Europe, by now they’d have undoubtedly been broken up or even taken over by the government, with revenues either flowing directly to the government or collected through high tax rates, fees, and fines. That is not the case here, where Facebook is based. I barely use Facebook for personal purposes, but I respect their right to exist, innovate, and make a profit. I also have a sense of logical personal responsibility that seems to be missing the the anti-Facebook folks. When I share something publicly, I fully expect that it will be...shared publicly. When I agree to be bound by the terms of conditions of a website...I agree to be bound by their terms and conditions. Somehow that is lost on all the people whining about it. How can anybody do business with or even employ people that publicly state that they do not recognize contract law?
  - musage 9y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook > All users outside of the US and Canada have a contract with Facebook's Irish subsidiary "Facebook Ireland Limited".
  - YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago
    >> In Europe, by now they’d have undoubtedly been broken up or even taken over by the government, with revenues either flowing directly to the government or collected through high tax rates, fees, and fines. Large companies based in Europe that haven't been "broken up and taken over" by "the government": Royal Dutch Shell (UK & Netherlands) BP (UK) Total (France) Volkswagen (Germany) Daimler (Germany) BNP Paribas (France) Carrefour (France) Banco Santander (Spain) Fiat (Italy) BMW (Germany) etc. etc. etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_European_companies_by_revenue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_European_compa...
YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago
I think you're implying that the GDPR is a money-grabbing scheme that the poor, cash-strapped EU pulled to fill its coffers with much needed cash. Well, the EU is the second largest world economy, by GDP. Maybe some destitute developing world nation might need such a trick to bring in some cash. The EU? Not so much. >> Do you think that is a coincidence? What is certainly an amazing coincidence is that this kind of legislation was passed in the EU and not, say, the US, China, or Saudi Arabia, or some other nation with their impeccable human rights record. It's almost as if the EU is actually trying to protect the rights of its citizens.
- downandout 9y ago
  I think you're implying that the GDPR is a money-grabbing scheme that the poor, cash-strapped EU pulled to fill its coffers with much needed cash. The EU as a whole is the world’s second largest economy. However, the GDPR is up for unique enforcement strategies and legal interpretations in the courts of 28 different EU countries. Having users intentionally set up a company to be subject to fines under such a broadly written law is a trivial matter. Picture this: A local government attorney simply looks for technical violations of GDPR according to their own country’s strict interpretation of it that even the corporation themselves couldn’t have envisioned. Then they simply have a government agent sign up for the site and take screenshots as proof of the “violation” that the specific country has invented. They put the matter in front of a patriotic local judge who is aware of how much his town could use a new park and is tired of reading about how rich US internet entrepreneurs are getting. Boom, instant millions - they might even name the town’s new park after the judge. The poor EU countries will use this to suck up as much revenue as they can from what to them are faceless US corporations. The larger ones will use this to give local competitors a leg up by fining international competitors to death. It’s a smart strategy I suppose, but as with most heavy-handed government attempts to control and exploit the free market, it is quite likely to backfire.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago

JumpCrisscross 9y ago

> Do you think that is a coincidence? Facebook broke laws, was fined by courts and regulators in multiple countries, kept breaking laws, made a mess on both sides of the Atlantic, lied about what happened and then tried to throw it under the rug. Meanwhile, leaks from inside show zero repentance or even cognizance among employees of something having gone wrong. The EU is addressing this failure with regulation; we'll solve it more decisively by breaking Facebook up.

downandout 9y ago
we'll solve it more decisively by breaking Facebook up. Good luck with that. Facebook is not based in a socialist country. In Europe, by now they’d have undoubtedly been broken up or even taken over by the government, with revenues either flowing directly to the government or collected through high tax rates, fees, and fines. That is not the case here, where Facebook is based. I barely use Facebook for personal purposes, but I respect their right to exist, innovate, and make a profit. I also have a sense of logical personal responsibility that seems to be missing the the anti-Facebook folks. When I share something publicly, I fully expect that it will be...shared publicly. When I agree to be bound by the terms of conditions of a website...I agree to be bound by their terms and conditions. Somehow that is lost on all the people whining about it. How can anybody do business with or even employ people that publicly state that they do not recognize contract law?
- musage 9y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook > All users outside of the US and Canada have a contract with Facebook's Irish subsidiary "Facebook Ireland Limited".
- YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago
  >> In Europe, by now they’d have undoubtedly been broken up or even taken over by the government, with revenues either flowing directly to the government or collected through high tax rates, fees, and fines. Large companies based in Europe that haven't been "broken up and taken over" by "the government": Royal Dutch Shell (UK & Netherlands) BP (UK) Total (France) Volkswagen (Germany) Daimler (Germany) BNP Paribas (France) Carrefour (France) Banco Santander (Spain) Fiat (Italy) BMW (Germany) etc. etc. etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_European_companies_by_revenue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_European_compa...

YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago

I think you're implying that the GDPR is a money-grabbing scheme that the poor, cash-strapped EU pulled to fill its coffers with much needed cash. Well, the EU is the second largest world economy, by GDP. Maybe some destitute developing world nation might need such a trick to bring in some cash. The EU? Not so much. >> Do you think that is a coincidence? What is certainly an amazing coincidence is that this kind of legislation was passed in the EU and not, say, the US, China, or Saudi Arabia, or some other nation with their impeccable human rights record. It's almost as if the EU is actually trying to protect the rights of its citizens.

downandout 9y ago
I think you're implying that the GDPR is a money-grabbing scheme that the poor, cash-strapped EU pulled to fill its coffers with much needed cash. The EU as a whole is the world’s second largest economy. However, the GDPR is up for unique enforcement strategies and legal interpretations in the courts of 28 different EU countries. Having users intentionally set up a company to be subject to fines under such a broadly written law is a trivial matter. Picture this: A local government attorney simply looks for technical violations of GDPR according to their own country’s strict interpretation of it that even the corporation themselves couldn’t have envisioned. Then they simply have a government agent sign up for the site and take screenshots as proof of the “violation” that the specific country has invented. They put the matter in front of a patriotic local judge who is aware of how much his town could use a new park and is tired of reading about how rich US internet entrepreneurs are getting. Boom, instant millions - they might even name the town’s new park after the judge. The poor EU countries will use this to suck up as much revenue as they can from what to them are faceless US corporations. The larger ones will use this to give local competitors a leg up by fining international competitors to death. It’s a smart strategy I suppose, but as with most heavy-handed government attempts to control and exploit the free market, it is quite likely to backfire.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago