4 ms·

The maximum penalty is a small percentage of earnings of 1 year. I doubt this will bankrupt any company. There are other laws that can do a lot more damage. In

The maximum penalty is a small percentage of earnings of 1 year. I doubt this will bankrupt any company. There are other laws that can do a lot more damage. In this case, storing passwords in plain text is equivalent to building cars with defective breaks. Definitely something the government should punish.

danielbln 8y ago
"In some cases, violators of the GDPR may be fined up to €20 million or up to 4% of the annual worldwide turnover of the preceding financial year in case of an enterprise, whichever is greater." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula...
- nkkollaw 8y ago
  Ah,I missed the 20M part :-D
kylegordon 8y ago
jfc, "brakes" not "breaks"
- skj 8y ago
  There are polite ways to correct someone's spelling.
  - downandout 8y ago
    Civility hasn't been a thing on HN for quite some time now, especially in any polarized thread. It's terrible, but even the moderators get in on the action by taking sides and burying viewpoints they don't like. This allows the Valley's toxic monoculture to shine through, which leads to rude comments like this one. Notice how that comment wasn't even flagged.
- nkkollaw 8y ago
  You don't have to swear because of a typo, English is not my first language. You look much dumber than the person you're correcting by acting like that.
LyndsySimon 8y ago
> storing passwords in plain text is equivalent to building cars with defective breaks This strikes me as hyperbole. Storing passwords in plaintext is a serious security issue, to the point of gross negligence - but the potential harm isn't even in the same ballpark. If your password is compromised and you have poor security practices, you could lose access to online services and perhaps even suffer significant financial loss. If your brakes fail you stand a good chance of death or serious injury.
- nkkollaw 8y ago
  That's kind of obvious. Car makers might have a bigger responsibility, but the amount of negligence is the same IMO. Many people recycle passwords, so having a company storing yours in plain text has the potential to ruin someone's life.
httpsterio 8y ago
4% of global annual turnover, not profit. If you sell 10,000 pieces of 15 dollar items for 20 dollars, your turnover is 200,000 dollars but your profit is 50,000 dollars because the cost of your investment was 1 50,000 dollars. 4% of the turnover would be 8000, which is suddenly 16% of your profits in this case. Oops. Then you have to take into account that this is your global turnover. Your one branch in Germany made a mistake and suddenly the whole worldwide company has to pay. Microsofts turnover last year was a 100B roughly. That could end up being a 4 billion dollar fine. 20 million dollars is peanuts compared to what it could be in the worst case. Hundreds of companies could take a 20m fine and not go bankrupt but a 4% global turnover fine will kill almost any company.

danielbln 8y ago

"In some cases, violators of the GDPR may be fined up to €20 million or up to 4% of the annual worldwide turnover of the preceding financial year in case of an enterprise, whichever is greater." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula...

nkkollaw 8y ago
Ah,I missed the 20M part :-D

kylegordon 8y ago

jfc, "brakes" not "breaks"

skj 8y ago
There are polite ways to correct someone's spelling.
- downandout 8y ago
  Civility hasn't been a thing on HN for quite some time now, especially in any polarized thread. It's terrible, but even the moderators get in on the action by taking sides and burying viewpoints they don't like. This allows the Valley's toxic monoculture to shine through, which leads to rude comments like this one. Notice how that comment wasn't even flagged.
nkkollaw 8y ago
You don't have to swear because of a typo, English is not my first language. You look much dumber than the person you're correcting by acting like that.

LyndsySimon 8y ago

> storing passwords in plain text is equivalent to building cars with defective breaks This strikes me as hyperbole. Storing passwords in plaintext is a serious security issue, to the point of gross negligence - but the potential harm isn't even in the same ballpark. If your password is compromised and you have poor security practices, you could lose access to online services and perhaps even suffer significant financial loss. If your brakes fail you stand a good chance of death or serious injury.

nkkollaw 8y ago
That's kind of obvious. Car makers might have a bigger responsibility, but the amount of negligence is the same IMO. Many people recycle passwords, so having a company storing yours in plain text has the potential to ruin someone's life.

httpsterio 8y ago

4% of global annual turnover, not profit. If you sell 10,000 pieces of 15 dollar items for 20 dollars, your turnover is 200,000 dollars but your profit is 50,000 dollars because the cost of your investment was 1 50,000 dollars. 4% of the turnover would be 8000, which is suddenly 16% of your profits in this case. Oops. Then you have to take into account that this is your global turnover. Your one branch in Germany made a mistake and suddenly the whole worldwide company has to pay. Microsofts turnover last year was a 100B roughly. That could end up being a 4 billion dollar fine. 20 million dollars is peanuts compared to what it could be in the worst case. Hundreds of companies could take a 20m fine and not go bankrupt but a 4% global turnover fine will kill almost any company.