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Site operators who shut down their site preemptively because they don't have time to even consider their GDPR stance are not really a strong signal on how sensi

Site operators who shut down their site preemptively because they don't have time to even consider their GDPR stance are not really a strong signal on how sensible the law is. In this case the operator's usage of the word troll to describe what happened is telling. Anyone can send any kind of threatening letter they want, and they are free to report you for non-compliance, but that doesn't mean any action will be taken against you, let alone actual fines. IANAL, but IMHO the chances of any solo forum operator being sanctioned by EU regulators is effectively nil—the purpose of the law is specifically to address usage of personal data, not old-school off-the-shelf forums and other one-off websites where the scope of the data is essentially the core of the service itself. You can argue the only thing that matters is the end result, but I'm not sure there's any way to write meaningful privacy regulation that will not generate a huge wave of FUD, especially with the traditional SV stance that we ought by default to have carte blanche to monetize user data in any way that's effective.

DoreenMichele 8y ago
Site operators who shut down their site preemptively because they don't have time to even consider their GDPR stance are not really a strong signal on how sensible the law is. No, but it is a strong signal of my critique: That the EU is a 900 pound gorilla and that is a large part of the problem here. Small operators will, in fact, be impacted by this because they don't have the resources -- including time -- to cope with this and this will cause substantial fallout. Suggesting that "The details of the law are sensible" is not a rebuttal of the cincerns I am expressing.
- dasil003 8y ago
  To change the practices of Facebook and the ad-tech world, you need a 900 pound gorilla or else nothing will change. All of this sky-is-falling punditry holding up small operators as examples is premature. Yes there is uncertainty, the landscape is changing, but it's not going to crush the little guy, mark my words.

DoreenMichele 8y ago

Site operators who shut down their site preemptively because they don't have time to even consider their GDPR stance are not really a strong signal on how sensible the law is. No, but it is a strong signal of my critique: That the EU is a 900 pound gorilla and that is a large part of the problem here. Small operators will, in fact, be impacted by this because they don't have the resources -- including time -- to cope with this and this will cause substantial fallout. Suggesting that "The details of the law are sensible" is not a rebuttal of the cincerns I am expressing.

dasil003 8y ago
To change the practices of Facebook and the ad-tech world, you need a 900 pound gorilla or else nothing will change. All of this sky-is-falling punditry holding up small operators as examples is premature. Yes there is uncertainty, the landscape is changing, but it's not going to crush the little guy, mark my words.