3 ms·

Begun the GDPR wars have. Popcorn ready. But seriously, the industry has largely been in a Wil-E-Coyote moment ever since GDPR came into force, because most o

Begun the GDPR wars have. Popcorn ready. But seriously, the industry has largely been in a Wil-E-Coyote moment ever since GDPR came into force, because most of the "standard practices", and for companies like Facebook and Google their business model, became illegal at that moment. The industry reaction has been to mostly ignore it and carry on as always, running on air and making sure not to look down. Oh, and trying to their best to annoy users by running nasty and also mostly illegal "consent popups", in an attempt to do a repeat of the very successful campaign against the cookie directive. I don't think it will work this time around, because the EU learned from their earlier mistake, and specifically came up with fines that will really, really sting. As far as I know, cases against Facebook are currently making their way through the system (not sure about Google, but they are also guilty as can be), but haven't resulted in a ruling and fine yet. Immovable business model, meet irresistible regulation. Popcorn ready.

singlow 5y ago
The EU is not going to get into a war because it doesn't have any countries capable of fighting a war. The GDPR is not powerful because as much as they think they can extract revenue from a multinational company, the pacifist EU countries don't have the power to enforce it at scale. China, Russia and the U.S. aren't going to help them enforce the GDPR. If the companies don't like it they will just ignore it and exclude the EU from the world economy. The EU will moderate its enforcement to a degree that is tolerable by the companies to avoid any major conflicts.
- denton-scratch 5y ago
  What's this about war? Who mentioned war? The EU is not fining a nation-state with an army; it's fining a corporation with EU subsidiaries and assets. If you want to trade in a place, you either obey the laws of that place, or you shut down operations there, or you get fined. Are you suggesting the USA might use armed force to prevent the EU fining Faceache? I don't think I've heard even nativist nuts suggesting anything remotely like that.
  - singlow 5y ago
    The post I replied to: > Begun the GDPR wars have.
    - denton-scratch 5y ago
      Oh, OK - I read the OP as referring to HN, so I didn't get your satire!

singlow 5y ago

The EU is not going to get into a war because it doesn't have any countries capable of fighting a war. The GDPR is not powerful because as much as they think they can extract revenue from a multinational company, the pacifist EU countries don't have the power to enforce it at scale. China, Russia and the U.S. aren't going to help them enforce the GDPR. If the companies don't like it they will just ignore it and exclude the EU from the world economy. The EU will moderate its enforcement to a degree that is tolerable by the companies to avoid any major conflicts.

denton-scratch 5y ago
What's this about war? Who mentioned war? The EU is not fining a nation-state with an army; it's fining a corporation with EU subsidiaries and assets. If you want to trade in a place, you either obey the laws of that place, or you shut down operations there, or you get fined. Are you suggesting the USA might use armed force to prevent the EU fining Faceache? I don't think I've heard even nativist nuts suggesting anything remotely like that.
- singlow 5y ago
  The post I replied to: > Begun the GDPR wars have.
  - denton-scratch 5y ago
    Oh, OK - I read the OP as referring to HN, so I didn't get your satire!