4 ms·

This is like saying in 1950 that companies will take the lead out of gasoline if we all stop driving.

JadeNB 7y ago
> This is like saying in 1950 that companies will take the lead out of gasoline if we all stop driving. If there were a real change in driving habits that the providers could trace to the presence of lead in gasoline, don't you think they would have taken it out?
- earthboundkid 7y ago
  No.
ben_w 7y ago
In the 1950s was leaded gasoline illegal across a continent worth about 20% of gross world product?
- earthboundkid 7y ago
  Idlewords is arguing for legally enforced privacy rights, rather than consumer-led boycotts (or worse, non-organized individual picking and choosing of which privacy violations to tolerate).
  - JadeNB 7y ago
    > Idlewords is arguing for legally enforced privacy rights, rather than consumer-led boycotts (or worse, non-organized individual picking and choosing of which privacy violations to tolerate). The context seems consistent with that being the intended thrust of the argument, but its literal wording (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19962410 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19962410): > This is like saying in 1950 that companies will take the lead out of gasoline if we all stop driving. seems to claim, not just that enforced regulations rather than consumer-led boycotts were the right way to address the issue of leaded gasoline, but that boycotts wouldn't have worked. If your gloss is the correct one, then I find the argument much more plausible than a literal reading suggests.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - ben_w 7y ago
      Thanks, I genuinely wasn’t able to see that interpretation until I saw this, and instead took it in the literal sense you’re giving here.
sieabahlpark 7y ago
Just let them think GDPR is enforceable across the ocean.
- icebraining 7y ago
  Techcrunch has events in the EU (e.g. Disrupt Berlin).
wnevets 7y ago
It's a little easier to stop visiting a website than it is to stop driving a car in US.
- kcorbitt 7y ago
  I wonder though! If you were to give every American today an ultimatum that they had to either (1) never drive a car again or (2) never use the internet again, what percentage would take each side of the deal?
  - nostalgk 7y ago
    Well, Uber uses the Internet to communicate. I know which one would be more useful overall to me. I think not using a few websites who use scummy ad practices (of which there are sometimes ethically reasonable alternatives, like this site) is a lot easier than never driving again, though.
  - kgwxd 7y ago
    But websites are on the internet, they're not the internet.
    - earthboundkid 7y ago
      Yes, thank you for using your Gopher client to post this highly relevant and on-topic comment that none of us had already known since forever.
  - btilly 7y ago
    Given that Americans gave YOU the internet, it seems more appropriate to ask Europeans whether they would prefer to not use the Internet, or to stop writing bad laws that cause problems for Internet companies.
    - read_if_gay_ 7y ago
      GP was not making this a US versus EU thing at all. Why are you?

> This is like saying in 1950 that companies will take the lead out of gasoline if we all stop driving. If there were a real change in driving habits that the providers could trace to the presence of lead in gasoline, don't you think they would have taken it out?

earthboundkid 7y ago
No.

ben_w 7y ago

In the 1950s was leaded gasoline illegal across a continent worth about 20% of gross world product?

earthboundkid 7y ago
Idlewords is arguing for legally enforced privacy rights, rather than consumer-led boycotts (or worse, non-organized individual picking and choosing of which privacy violations to tolerate).
- JadeNB 7y ago
  > Idlewords is arguing for legally enforced privacy rights, rather than consumer-led boycotts (or worse, non-organized individual picking and choosing of which privacy violations to tolerate). The context seems consistent with that being the intended thrust of the argument, but its literal wording (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19962410 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19962410): > This is like saying in 1950 that companies will take the lead out of gasoline if we all stop driving. seems to claim, not just that enforced regulations rather than consumer-led boycotts were the right way to address the issue of leaded gasoline, but that boycotts wouldn't have worked. If your gloss is the correct one, then I find the argument much more plausible than a literal reading suggests.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - ben_w 7y ago
    Thanks, I genuinely wasn’t able to see that interpretation until I saw this, and instead took it in the literal sense you’re giving here.

sieabahlpark 7y ago

Just let them think GDPR is enforceable across the ocean.

icebraining 7y ago
Techcrunch has events in the EU (e.g. Disrupt Berlin).

wnevets 7y ago

It's a little easier to stop visiting a website than it is to stop driving a car in US.

kcorbitt 7y ago
I wonder though! If you were to give every American today an ultimatum that they had to either (1) never drive a car again or (2) never use the internet again, what percentage would take each side of the deal?
- nostalgk 7y ago
  Well, Uber uses the Internet to communicate. I know which one would be more useful overall to me. I think not using a few websites who use scummy ad practices (of which there are sometimes ethically reasonable alternatives, like this site) is a lot easier than never driving again, though.
- kgwxd 7y ago
  But websites are on the internet, they're not the internet.
  - earthboundkid 7y ago
    Yes, thank you for using your Gopher client to post this highly relevant and on-topic comment that none of us had already known since forever.
- btilly 7y ago
  Given that Americans gave YOU the internet, it seems more appropriate to ask Europeans whether they would prefer to not use the Internet, or to stop writing bad laws that cause problems for Internet companies.
  - read_if_gay_ 7y ago
    GP was not making this a US versus EU thing at all. Why are you?