4 ms·

It's really not the same thing. EU wants data privacy, and has regulations for it. European countries have always had strong consumer protection laws, it just

It's really not the same thing. EU wants data privacy, and has regulations for it. European countries have always had strong consumer protection laws, it just so happens that the EU has unified them and it has teeth. To operate in a country, you have to follow that country's laws, period. At Facebook's scale, I don't think this is beyond their technical capabilities, or too expensive. The reason they are worried is that they've built their business on data surveillance, and they are worried that the EU with all their privacy regulations will invalidate their business model. As for Snowden, I remember the US president claiming that foreigners are not US citizens and thus we have no rights. Well, this is the EU protecting my rights, as an EU citizen. And US businesses will just have to comply if they want to do business here. Fine by me.

kennywinker 6y ago
> will invalidate their business model. make that "will make their business model less profitable" and I agree. With that many users, I'm very skeptical you need ANY kind of micro-targeting of ads to make good money. But the targeting allows you to make crazy money so they're pretty attached to it.
pilsetnieks 6y ago
> it just so happens that the EU has unified them and it has teeth Turns out, not always, though. One of the problems with GDPR is that enforcement is left with national DPAs, and it appears that the Irish DPA is really dragging their feet about it. Coincidentally, Ireland is where the European operations of many major technology conglomerates are established. https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40052177.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40052177.html
- bad_user 6y ago
  DPAs are currently understaffed, and the complaints and lawsuits are dragging, but I believe this is only temporary. The legal framework is there, lawsuits are happening, and it scares companies built on data surveillance, and we know because some of them have moved out of EU already. The big players are operating in a gray area that's harder to attack, but then again, they are bigger targets. Given past fines, and given GDPR's potential, I'm sure the EU wouldn't mind replenishing their budget in the future.
lhorie 6y ago
Isn't the business model to just sell ads? Is it not possible to do that without exporting people's PII and stuff out of EU?
- bad_user 6y ago
  I wouldn't be so sure. People pay for FB ads due to being able to target a demographic, eg women between 35-45 from California, interested in wellness. That's their whole value proposition. They could turn around and start serving ads based on the content viewed, but content and viewing on FB is very superficial, and compared with Google's AdWords, they don't have searches that signal intent. FB's ads convert pretty badly already. If those conversions drop further, might turn out to be a deal breaker. So what are they gonna do? Serve ads for Coke-Cola?
  - lhorie 6y ago
    I mean, I'm sure norwegian dating sites have age/location info of their user base too. I thought the point of contention was that sending this data to a foreign country was the problem. Why does keeping data in physical servers within a country negatively impact an ads business that targets users based on their demographics?
    - bad_user 6y ago
      Maybe because they want to stream that data to data mining servers in the US, possibly third-parties too? I was talking in general anyway. Between GDPR, requirements for safeguarding, and Apple destroying the mobile in-app advertising ID, they probably don't feel so good. Norwegian dating sites don't have permission to use age/location info, for ads, without explicit consent, and the ToS can't cover it, FYI.
      - nicoburns 6y ago
        > Maybe because they want to stream that data to data mining servers in the US, possibly third-parties too? Facebook could still make plenty of money without doing this.

kennywinker 6y ago

> will invalidate their business model. make that "will make their business model less profitable" and I agree. With that many users, I'm very skeptical you need ANY kind of micro-targeting of ads to make good money. But the targeting allows you to make crazy money so they're pretty attached to it.

pilsetnieks 6y ago

> it just so happens that the EU has unified them and it has teeth Turns out, not always, though. One of the problems with GDPR is that enforcement is left with national DPAs, and it appears that the Irish DPA is really dragging their feet about it. Coincidentally, Ireland is where the European operations of many major technology conglomerates are established. https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40052177.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40052177.html

bad_user 6y ago
DPAs are currently understaffed, and the complaints and lawsuits are dragging, but I believe this is only temporary. The legal framework is there, lawsuits are happening, and it scares companies built on data surveillance, and we know because some of them have moved out of EU already. The big players are operating in a gray area that's harder to attack, but then again, they are bigger targets. Given past fines, and given GDPR's potential, I'm sure the EU wouldn't mind replenishing their budget in the future.

lhorie 6y ago

Isn't the business model to just sell ads? Is it not possible to do that without exporting people's PII and stuff out of EU?

bad_user 6y ago
I wouldn't be so sure. People pay for FB ads due to being able to target a demographic, eg women between 35-45 from California, interested in wellness. That's their whole value proposition. They could turn around and start serving ads based on the content viewed, but content and viewing on FB is very superficial, and compared with Google's AdWords, they don't have searches that signal intent. FB's ads convert pretty badly already. If those conversions drop further, might turn out to be a deal breaker. So what are they gonna do? Serve ads for Coke-Cola?
- lhorie 6y ago
  I mean, I'm sure norwegian dating sites have age/location info of their user base too. I thought the point of contention was that sending this data to a foreign country was the problem. Why does keeping data in physical servers within a country negatively impact an ads business that targets users based on their demographics?
  - bad_user 6y ago
    Maybe because they want to stream that data to data mining servers in the US, possibly third-parties too? I was talking in general anyway. Between GDPR, requirements for safeguarding, and Apple destroying the mobile in-app advertising ID, they probably don't feel so good. Norwegian dating sites don't have permission to use age/location info, for ads, without explicit consent, and the ToS can't cover it, FYI.
    - nicoburns 6y ago
      > Maybe because they want to stream that data to data mining servers in the US, possibly third-parties too? Facebook could still make plenty of money without doing this.