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If it’s your right to use an adblocker under the theory that you should control what requests your browser makes from your device, then which requests it makes

If it’s your right to use an adblocker under the theory that you should control what requests your browser makes from your device, then which requests it makes are also your responsibility. Regardless, whether you intended to send my server a request is your problem. The fact is that you did, and that hardly gives full control of my business to whatever legal jurisdictions claim you as their subject.

mrtksn 8y ago
Well, as it turns out, it's your problem. Like, literally :) Anyway, don't be too upset about all this. The law is not banning you from collecting my data, you just need to be explicit and informative about it so that I can decide if I am going to send a request to your servers. I'm often disturbed by the mindset that people are some business' god given a right to exploitation. It's the other way around really, that is, if you can find a way to serve me or solve a problem of mine I might choose to do a business with you if I decide that the compensation you demand fair. If your business is unprofitable when you have to ask me for permission in plain English maybe it simply means that you don't have a profitable Business and you should consider doing something else. We don't see business people complaining that government regulations are hurting their organ harvesting businesses, right? People decided that they don't want other people to sell their kidneys on open markets, so that business doesn't exist. People at some point decided that they don't want to get cancer from Asbestos, regulations kicked in and the Asbestos businesses were destroyed. This time around people seem to be in control of their data, if that makes your business unprofitable or impossible do what others did: Something else.
- ryanwaggoner 8y ago
  Well, as it turns out, it's your problem. Like, literally :) Only if the EU can enforce it, which they can’t. I don’t pay attention to laws from other countries that don’t apply to me and have no teeth, and I’ll ignore this one as well, until there’s some enforcement mechanism. At that point I’ll evaluate. I’d probably just block the EU though; not worth the hassle.
  - mrtksn 8y ago
    >not worth the hassle There you get it. If your business is not profitable when you respect the privacy preferences of your users you simply don't do business. It's not your god given right to violate user's privacy so that you can turn a profit. In other words, if you can't make a profit by selling 1$ burgers when you meet hygiene requirements just get out of the 1$ burger business. No need for hard feelings.
    - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
      If your business is not profitable when you respect the privacy preferences of your users you simply don't do business. This is a false dichotomy: 1. Fully comply with the GDPR, no matter the cost, even if that's just legal and administrative because you're not actually doing anything in terms of data practices that would violate the law. 2. Go out of business, because you clearly are intending to do shady things that violate user privacy. if you can't make a profit by selling 1$ burgers when you meet hygiene requirements just get out of the 1$ burger business Perfect example. Say I run a burger shop that is perfectly clean and in compliance with all local laws, but the EU passes a law that says I need to fully audit all my food safety practices, publish them in a public place with their format, appoint a food safety rep in the EU, and comply with other vague requirements that they deem necessary, just in case an EU citizen visiting the US comes and eats at my shop. Now, if I ignore that, am I "breaking the law"? I guess so. Just like I might be breaking some Indian law by serving beef at all (hypothetical). But does it actually matter? Can the law be enforced? Should I care as a matter of civic duty? Very likely not. Worse, should the entire citizenry of the EU suddenly decide that my small town burger shop in Iowa clearly intends to feed every customer tainted beef and deserves their opprobrium and any fines that can possibly be levied by the EU, just because I didn't fully comply with their law? And if they do develop some enforcement mechanism to use against small town USA burger shop, how is it not my right to put up a sign that says "Sorry, EU customers, but please don't eat here, as I don't comply with your laws"? Is your argument seriously that I should comply with every law from every jurisdiction in the world, just because a customer from that jurisdiction might wander into my shop, even when I've expressly told them not to?
- sorokod 8y ago
  Well played sir.
- CodeWriter23 8y ago
  Not when a US site uses a "copy protection" mechanism to ban all EU users, and grants a copyright license giving full access to US users and no access to EU users. Then your EU-based choice to use a proxy becomes a copy protection circumvention under the ECD, and the user is subject to a lawsuit.
  - mrtksn 8y ago
    Better Call Saul!

mrtksn 8y ago

Well, as it turns out, it's your problem. Like, literally :) Anyway, don't be too upset about all this. The law is not banning you from collecting my data, you just need to be explicit and informative about it so that I can decide if I am going to send a request to your servers. I'm often disturbed by the mindset that people are some business' god given a right to exploitation. It's the other way around really, that is, if you can find a way to serve me or solve a problem of mine I might choose to do a business with you if I decide that the compensation you demand fair. If your business is unprofitable when you have to ask me for permission in plain English maybe it simply means that you don't have a profitable Business and you should consider doing something else. We don't see business people complaining that government regulations are hurting their organ harvesting businesses, right? People decided that they don't want other people to sell their kidneys on open markets, so that business doesn't exist. People at some point decided that they don't want to get cancer from Asbestos, regulations kicked in and the Asbestos businesses were destroyed. This time around people seem to be in control of their data, if that makes your business unprofitable or impossible do what others did: Something else.

ryanwaggoner 8y ago
Well, as it turns out, it's your problem. Like, literally :) Only if the EU can enforce it, which they can’t. I don’t pay attention to laws from other countries that don’t apply to me and have no teeth, and I’ll ignore this one as well, until there’s some enforcement mechanism. At that point I’ll evaluate. I’d probably just block the EU though; not worth the hassle.
- mrtksn 8y ago
  >not worth the hassle There you get it. If your business is not profitable when you respect the privacy preferences of your users you simply don't do business. It's not your god given right to violate user's privacy so that you can turn a profit. In other words, if you can't make a profit by selling 1$ burgers when you meet hygiene requirements just get out of the 1$ burger business. No need for hard feelings.
  - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
    If your business is not profitable when you respect the privacy preferences of your users you simply don't do business. This is a false dichotomy: 1. Fully comply with the GDPR, no matter the cost, even if that's just legal and administrative because you're not actually doing anything in terms of data practices that would violate the law. 2. Go out of business, because you clearly are intending to do shady things that violate user privacy. if you can't make a profit by selling 1$ burgers when you meet hygiene requirements just get out of the 1$ burger business Perfect example. Say I run a burger shop that is perfectly clean and in compliance with all local laws, but the EU passes a law that says I need to fully audit all my food safety practices, publish them in a public place with their format, appoint a food safety rep in the EU, and comply with other vague requirements that they deem necessary, just in case an EU citizen visiting the US comes and eats at my shop. Now, if I ignore that, am I "breaking the law"? I guess so. Just like I might be breaking some Indian law by serving beef at all (hypothetical). But does it actually matter? Can the law be enforced? Should I care as a matter of civic duty? Very likely not. Worse, should the entire citizenry of the EU suddenly decide that my small town burger shop in Iowa clearly intends to feed every customer tainted beef and deserves their opprobrium and any fines that can possibly be levied by the EU, just because I didn't fully comply with their law? And if they do develop some enforcement mechanism to use against small town USA burger shop, how is it not my right to put up a sign that says "Sorry, EU customers, but please don't eat here, as I don't comply with your laws"? Is your argument seriously that I should comply with every law from every jurisdiction in the world, just because a customer from that jurisdiction might wander into my shop, even when I've expressly told them not to?
sorokod 8y ago
Well played sir.
CodeWriter23 8y ago
Not when a US site uses a "copy protection" mechanism to ban all EU users, and grants a copyright license giving full access to US users and no access to EU users. Then your EU-based choice to use a proxy becomes a copy protection circumvention under the ECD, and the user is subject to a lawsuit.
- mrtksn 8y ago
  Better Call Saul!