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This is manifestly bullshit. When I as an Engineer build a physical product, I have to take care that it fulfills the legal and normative requirements of every

This is manifestly bullshit. When I as an Engineer build a physical product, I have to take care that it fulfills the legal and normative requirements of every place I plan to sell it. The product of a software company is said software. The "storefront" is their website. When I cater to a global audience, I have to make sure I fulfill all requirements. Period. No matter what I sell. Now, there are ways around it. Either agree on a supernational legal frame , for example a car which is certified in one EU-Country is deemed certified everywhere (something Tesla used to great effect) or have one reliable entity for certification (like the FAA was in Aerospace, which is most likely bound to change). But putting the onus on the customer to find the legalities in the origin country of the software/website provider is not the solution. Especially for large providers. Just an example question: Where is the website "legally" located? The company's HQ? The local office? The office of the developers? The main database? The CDN-Server for your location? edit:formatting/typos

throawayuk55po 7y ago
Why do you have to respect national norms? Because there will be health and safety implications within their country. In the case of visiting a website, the customer is the one visiting you, there is no good rational to put the burden on the business. It is much more sound and natural to either put it on the consumer, a business may be visited by nationals from hundreds of juridisction, while a consumer will only visit 1 or 2 businesses. You can also decide that the laws of the country in which the business is based apply. You make it sound more difficult than it actually is, every website selling software products already mentions the address of the owner, at the very least to define a party for the contract / terms of service.
- IfOnlyYouKnew 7y ago
  It's a myth that the internet is about "information" that has no power to do any harm. Anything that can be beneficial must, by definition, have the power to change whatever you consider reality, and almost that power can have negative consequences as well as positive ones. Here, we're talking data and privacy, and it's commonly accepted fact that the disclosure of personal data can be harmful. Countries want to protect their citizen from such harms. Hence regulation. > , there is no good rational to put the burden on the business. It is much more sound and natural to either put it on the consumer, a business may be visited by nationals from hundreds of juridisction, while a consumer will only visit 1 or 2 businesses This seems completely, and obviously, be the opposite of reality as I experience it, as both a consumer and startup founder. Businesses have repeated transactions of similar types and products. Since there are fewer businesses than consumers, they also have more resources, and locating any burdens of transactions that occur once per country is vastly more efficient. A company like Facebook has a theoretical upper limit of a little less than 200 jurisdictions to consider, using billions in revenue. Their customers would have to the same, only they number in the billions, and have few resources nor structures for sharing this burden (except, of course, their governments). > while a consumer will only visit 1 or 2 businesses. I'm pretty sure I interact with dozens of businesses every day.
novok 7y ago
I think a good metaphor to think about this is how a book store in new york will be visited by people from hundreds of countries, where some of the products they sell there are illegal in some countries because of obscenity laws. If the EU made a law that made the NYC bookstore liable in the EU for selling "obscene" books to europeans, and then arrested the unaware bookstore owner in a vacation to france, is that really right? That is a big issue with the GDPR in general.

throawayuk55po 7y ago

Why do you have to respect national norms? Because there will be health and safety implications within their country. In the case of visiting a website, the customer is the one visiting you, there is no good rational to put the burden on the business. It is much more sound and natural to either put it on the consumer, a business may be visited by nationals from hundreds of juridisction, while a consumer will only visit 1 or 2 businesses. You can also decide that the laws of the country in which the business is based apply. You make it sound more difficult than it actually is, every website selling software products already mentions the address of the owner, at the very least to define a party for the contract / terms of service.

IfOnlyYouKnew 7y ago
It's a myth that the internet is about "information" that has no power to do any harm. Anything that can be beneficial must, by definition, have the power to change whatever you consider reality, and almost that power can have negative consequences as well as positive ones. Here, we're talking data and privacy, and it's commonly accepted fact that the disclosure of personal data can be harmful. Countries want to protect their citizen from such harms. Hence regulation. > , there is no good rational to put the burden on the business. It is much more sound and natural to either put it on the consumer, a business may be visited by nationals from hundreds of juridisction, while a consumer will only visit 1 or 2 businesses This seems completely, and obviously, be the opposite of reality as I experience it, as both a consumer and startup founder. Businesses have repeated transactions of similar types and products. Since there are fewer businesses than consumers, they also have more resources, and locating any burdens of transactions that occur once per country is vastly more efficient. A company like Facebook has a theoretical upper limit of a little less than 200 jurisdictions to consider, using billions in revenue. Their customers would have to the same, only they number in the billions, and have few resources nor structures for sharing this burden (except, of course, their governments). > while a consumer will only visit 1 or 2 businesses. I'm pretty sure I interact with dozens of businesses every day.

novok 7y ago

I think a good metaphor to think about this is how a book store in new york will be visited by people from hundreds of countries, where some of the products they sell there are illegal in some countries because of obscenity laws. If the EU made a law that made the NYC bookstore liable in the EU for selling "obscene" books to europeans, and then arrested the unaware bookstore owner in a vacation to france, is that really right? That is a big issue with the GDPR in general.