3 ms·

I still don't understand how this is going to be enforced. If I'm a website or app provider in China or Philippines or Russia or India, and I collect informatio

by msravi 8y ago

I still don't understand how this is going to be enforced. If I'm a website or app provider in China or Philippines or Russia or India, and I collect information on EU residents who visit/use my website/service, how is GDPR going to be enforced? How are they going to fine me 4% of my revenue?

woolvalley 8y ago
You arrest company officers flying into the EU (even for a layover, even for emergency landings) for default judgements. You block their companies from doing business in the EU. You confiscate bank accounts set in the EU, you confiscate shipments to/from the EU.
- riffraff 8y ago
  And obviously, you block the service in the EU. Most users are not technically proficient, and a simple DNS block is enough.
  - astkaasa 8y ago
    Then Chinese people can teach them how to cross the 'WALL'.
    - riffraff 8y ago
      you don't need the chinese, DNS blocking is used in many european countries even today, to block torrent or streaming sites.
    - AstralStorm 8y ago
      As is the case with the Chinese firewall, most people will not bother. They will instead use alternate sane businesses offering similar services.
- msravi 8y ago
  Hmm.. might work if it's not a one-person shop with no company name, etc.
  - zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 8y ago
    Yeah, might work if you have no plan on monetizing your product in any way. Not selling to users in the EU, not selling to advertisers in the EU, not selling anything to anyone in the EU, then you might get away with collecting data of your EU users ... for what exactly?
- pcr0 8y ago
  For a public company, sure. How would you find company officers of private offshore companies located in Cayman/Seychelles/BVI?
  - guitarbill 8y ago
    Of course you can always do illegal stuff. GDPR won't change that. You can still buy e.g. stolen credit cards on the black market. But personal information? Doesn't seem worth the hassle, especially when you can anonymize it and keep using it. Or get consent. If you're smart enough not to get caught, you're probably smart enough to come up with a business model that isn't shitty.
TangoTrotFox 8y ago
I found the US crackdown on online poker fascinating and disturbing in this regard. The poker sites were operating in offshore locations and abiding all local rules and regulations. The US then passed some laws stating that US players could not play online poker after extensive lobbying from local casino interests. These sites did not overtly stop US players from playing. And they were careful to keep all interactions with the US separated from themselves. For instance they did not handle financial interactions with US players or banks - instead it was all done through independent third parties. Regardless the US decided to 'bring em democracy' which in this case translated to seizing their domains, freezing assets in banks worldwide, and staging arrests in all nations with extradition treaties. This cooperation by banks was quite surprising and disturbing, but I suppose the US is in a position to make them an offer they can't refuse. It's unclear if the EU would go the 'Team Merica' route, but we're increasingly deciding that laws are no longer constrained to borders.
nostalgeek 8y ago
> I still don't understand how this is going to be enforced. As much as the "cookie law" was enforced. 99.9% of all websites on the net were in infraction. To people supporting this under pretense of fighting for privacy, it will have no effect on Facebook or Google business model.

by msravi 8y ago

woolvalley 8y ago

You arrest company officers flying into the EU (even for a layover, even for emergency landings) for default judgements. You block their companies from doing business in the EU. You confiscate bank accounts set in the EU, you confiscate shipments to/from the EU.

riffraff 8y ago
And obviously, you block the service in the EU. Most users are not technically proficient, and a simple DNS block is enough.
- astkaasa 8y ago
  Then Chinese people can teach them how to cross the 'WALL'.
  - riffraff 8y ago
    you don't need the chinese, DNS blocking is used in many european countries even today, to block torrent or streaming sites.
  - AstralStorm 8y ago
    As is the case with the Chinese firewall, most people will not bother. They will instead use alternate sane businesses offering similar services.
msravi 8y ago
Hmm.. might work if it's not a one-person shop with no company name, etc.
- zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 8y ago
  Yeah, might work if you have no plan on monetizing your product in any way. Not selling to users in the EU, not selling to advertisers in the EU, not selling anything to anyone in the EU, then you might get away with collecting data of your EU users ... for what exactly?
pcr0 8y ago
For a public company, sure. How would you find company officers of private offshore companies located in Cayman/Seychelles/BVI?
- guitarbill 8y ago
  Of course you can always do illegal stuff. GDPR won't change that. You can still buy e.g. stolen credit cards on the black market. But personal information? Doesn't seem worth the hassle, especially when you can anonymize it and keep using it. Or get consent. If you're smart enough not to get caught, you're probably smart enough to come up with a business model that isn't shitty.

TangoTrotFox 8y ago

I found the US crackdown on online poker fascinating and disturbing in this regard. The poker sites were operating in offshore locations and abiding all local rules and regulations. The US then passed some laws stating that US players could not play online poker after extensive lobbying from local casino interests. These sites did not overtly stop US players from playing. And they were careful to keep all interactions with the US separated from themselves. For instance they did not handle financial interactions with US players or banks - instead it was all done through independent third parties. Regardless the US decided to 'bring em democracy' which in this case translated to seizing their domains, freezing assets in banks worldwide, and staging arrests in all nations with extradition treaties. This cooperation by banks was quite surprising and disturbing, but I suppose the US is in a position to make them an offer they can't refuse. It's unclear if the EU would go the 'Team Merica' route, but we're increasingly deciding that laws are no longer constrained to borders.

nostalgeek 8y ago

> I still don't understand how this is going to be enforced. As much as the "cookie law" was enforced. 99.9% of all websites on the net were in infraction. To people supporting this under pretense of fighting for privacy, it will have no effect on Facebook or Google business model.