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If you as a society ignore it and let it loose, why won't it? See GDPR as a solid example of trend reversal.

BjoernKW 8y ago
The jury is still out on if GDPR will actually be beneficial to consumers and citizens in general or if it’ll rather end up benefiting exactly those companies that don’t respect user privacy it supposedly was targeted at. The intent behind GDPR certainly is good. I’m worried about the implementation though. In that respect I don’t really consider it a solid effort.
- mar77i 8y ago
  Besides being worded clearly against a certain kind of data-driven dystopia, it's also a start in the right direction. I, for one, do not expect EU to completely turn this policy upside down in the next years to come.
- village-idiot 8y ago
  The rather intense fines should solve the tragedy of the commons aspect, so long as the courts remain powerful and reasonably uncorrupt.
- dasil003 8y ago
  I’ve heard this argument a lot from startup people, but it rings of envy of being late to the gold rush. The only reason to be more worried about Google/Facebook is because of the power they have, small startups are not inherently more ethical, and I’ve met enough small SV founders to know that as a group they don’t hold any kind of moral high ground. Framing the conversation as tech company winners and losers is to totally miss the point. The real question is whether GDPR will actually help stem data abuses, and frankly I don’t see how it can’t be at least a marginal net positive.
  - BjoernKW 8y ago
    I'm not worried at all about consumer-data-driven startups who are "late to the game". I'm concerned about the impact GDPR has on small businesses. GDPR applies to every business regardless of size. This is how it should be in a state under the rule of law, after all. For small businesses, however, the effort required for implementing GDPR is considerably larger in relative terms than it is for larger companies. Even if you don't process any data beyond what's necessary due to legitimate interest such as for accounting purposes the effort required for properly documenting your processes and third-party data processing can be quite considerable. Larger companies already do have lawyers to deal with this. As a small business owner you usually don't. This in itself isn't all that bad. It's mostly a one-time effort and as an added benefit it allows you to rethink and streamline your processes. However, some aspects of GDPR have been left rather open and ambiguous in terms of how to actually implement them (sometimes intentionally so to make the regulation somewhat future-proof). Please see this earlier comment on some issues that small business owners are faced with: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17099878 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17099878 Some of that ambiguity and uncertainty opens up new opportunities for the practice of sending a certain type of cease-and-desist letters that already incurs a fine at first notice (e.g. for supposedly not meeting legal requirements such as having a properly worded privacy statement on your website). This practice is rampant in some areas and industries. So far unfortunately, neither the EU nor the member states this applies to have undertaken significant steps to fight this. What really irks me is that EU officials dismissed these concerns on several occasions. It's almost as if for them SMBs simply don't exist and the world is all about Google and Facebook.
toss1 8y ago
GDPR does sem like a good (albeit small) step of trend reversal, attempting to limit the power of data accumulators for the general good. In contrast, a not so good step is the recent partisan calls by Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, Laura Ingram, etc. to nationalize Google, Facebook, etc. because "the results are rigged against Trump", attempting to seize the power in service of a particular party currently with authoritarian tendencies, just as TFA warned. That said, I doubt this will get far soon.

The jury is still out on if GDPR will actually be beneficial to consumers and citizens in general or if it’ll rather end up benefiting exactly those companies that don’t respect user privacy it supposedly was targeted at. The intent behind GDPR certainly is good. I’m worried about the implementation though. In that respect I don’t really consider it a solid effort.

mar77i 8y ago
Besides being worded clearly against a certain kind of data-driven dystopia, it's also a start in the right direction. I, for one, do not expect EU to completely turn this policy upside down in the next years to come.
village-idiot 8y ago
The rather intense fines should solve the tragedy of the commons aspect, so long as the courts remain powerful and reasonably uncorrupt.
dasil003 8y ago
I’ve heard this argument a lot from startup people, but it rings of envy of being late to the gold rush. The only reason to be more worried about Google/Facebook is because of the power they have, small startups are not inherently more ethical, and I’ve met enough small SV founders to know that as a group they don’t hold any kind of moral high ground. Framing the conversation as tech company winners and losers is to totally miss the point. The real question is whether GDPR will actually help stem data abuses, and frankly I don’t see how it can’t be at least a marginal net positive.
- BjoernKW 8y ago
  I'm not worried at all about consumer-data-driven startups who are "late to the game". I'm concerned about the impact GDPR has on small businesses. GDPR applies to every business regardless of size. This is how it should be in a state under the rule of law, after all. For small businesses, however, the effort required for implementing GDPR is considerably larger in relative terms than it is for larger companies. Even if you don't process any data beyond what's necessary due to legitimate interest such as for accounting purposes the effort required for properly documenting your processes and third-party data processing can be quite considerable. Larger companies already do have lawyers to deal with this. As a small business owner you usually don't. This in itself isn't all that bad. It's mostly a one-time effort and as an added benefit it allows you to rethink and streamline your processes. However, some aspects of GDPR have been left rather open and ambiguous in terms of how to actually implement them (sometimes intentionally so to make the regulation somewhat future-proof). Please see this earlier comment on some issues that small business owners are faced with: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17099878 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17099878 Some of that ambiguity and uncertainty opens up new opportunities for the practice of sending a certain type of cease-and-desist letters that already incurs a fine at first notice (e.g. for supposedly not meeting legal requirements such as having a properly worded privacy statement on your website). This practice is rampant in some areas and industries. So far unfortunately, neither the EU nor the member states this applies to have undertaken significant steps to fight this. What really irks me is that EU officials dismissed these concerns on several occasions. It's almost as if for them SMBs simply don't exist and the world is all about Google and Facebook.

toss1 8y ago

GDPR does sem like a good (albeit small) step of trend reversal, attempting to limit the power of data accumulators for the general good. In contrast, a not so good step is the recent partisan calls by Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, Laura Ingram, etc. to nationalize Google, Facebook, etc. because "the results are rigged against Trump", attempting to seize the power in service of a particular party currently with authoritarian tendencies, just as TFA warned. That said, I doubt this will get far soon.