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A fine of this size indicates to me they should harvest and sell more data to increase profits. Tens of millions would still probably be worth it to Grindr. Im

A fine of this size indicates to me they should harvest and sell more data to increase profits. Tens of millions would still probably be worth it to Grindr. Imagine your a government who doesn’t like homosexuals. Pay a fee - $5-$10m and you’ll get a list of users globally. Probably with travel patterns. Next time they enter the country, arrest or block visas before they enter. Nah, this fine (which I don’t even know if they’ll pay) is the cost of doing business.

jacquesm 5y ago
These fines tend to go up with repeat performances. Sooner or later some company will be fined right out of business and then we'll see whether the remainder will catch on that playing games with regulators is a losing one.
- madeofpalk 5y ago
  playing games with functional regulators is a losing one.
rvnx 5y ago
Wait a second, it's not Grindr gathering and selling a list of homosexuals interested into sex. It's the users themselves who actively register on Grindr to announce their services and picture on the platform. If this activity is illegal in the country of the user, the best Grindr can do, is to prevent users from these countries from registering on the platform based on their national ID, but that's basically it.
- netizen-936824 5y ago
  And what if the country want info on people outside the country. They may want to be sure that they can catch the homosexuals when they come to visit or prevent them from visiting (friends family etc) altogether. Whether or not the person signed up in the first place, nobody should be able to buy the data
- TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
  The users aren’t gathering aggregated data of millions of other users and selling it.
  - dspillett 5y ago
    Or just more lazily selling it en-mass for the buyers to aggregate and otherwise process, along with anything they've picked up elsewhere.
- retrac 5y ago
  You don't have to be living in a country where homosexuality is illegal to not want your presence on a dating app - straight or gay - to be public knowledge. Speaking from unfortunate experience about half the men on Grindr do not put up identifying pictures. Many are in relationships with men and are cheating. And many present publicly as heterosexual or are married to women. It's a blackmailer's jackpot.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Right along with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Madison_data_breach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Madison_data_breach
- celeduc 5y ago
  Firstly, yes, Grindr is mostly men looking for sex, but they're not all homosexuals and they're not all looking for sex; many are just there to flirt, others to troll. But Grindr is definitely gathering and selling lists: it's what they do. Secondly, with the word "services" you're implying that the users are whores. Thirdly, there are an infinite number of ways that Grindr could protect its users through the design of their app: from purely technical measures such as end-to-end encryption, or through careful informed consent about shared data and protection of people who are legally or functionally incapable of such consent. But from your statements you just want to blame the users because you disapprove of them. I'm sure you can do better than that.

jacquesm 5y ago

These fines tend to go up with repeat performances. Sooner or later some company will be fined right out of business and then we'll see whether the remainder will catch on that playing games with regulators is a losing one.

madeofpalk 5y ago
playing games with functional regulators is a losing one.

rvnx 5y ago

Wait a second, it's not Grindr gathering and selling a list of homosexuals interested into sex. It's the users themselves who actively register on Grindr to announce their services and picture on the platform. If this activity is illegal in the country of the user, the best Grindr can do, is to prevent users from these countries from registering on the platform based on their national ID, but that's basically it.

netizen-936824 5y ago
And what if the country want info on people outside the country. They may want to be sure that they can catch the homosexuals when they come to visit or prevent them from visiting (friends family etc) altogether. Whether or not the person signed up in the first place, nobody should be able to buy the data
TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
The users aren’t gathering aggregated data of millions of other users and selling it.
- dspillett 5y ago
  Or just more lazily selling it en-mass for the buyers to aggregate and otherwise process, along with anything they've picked up elsewhere.
retrac 5y ago
You don't have to be living in a country where homosexuality is illegal to not want your presence on a dating app - straight or gay - to be public knowledge. Speaking from unfortunate experience about half the men on Grindr do not put up identifying pictures. Many are in relationships with men and are cheating. And many present publicly as heterosexual or are married to women. It's a blackmailer's jackpot.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Right along with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Madison_data_breach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Madison_data_breach
celeduc 5y ago
Firstly, yes, Grindr is mostly men looking for sex, but they're not all homosexuals and they're not all looking for sex; many are just there to flirt, others to troll. But Grindr is definitely gathering and selling lists: it's what they do. Secondly, with the word "services" you're implying that the users are whores. Thirdly, there are an infinite number of ways that Grindr could protect its users through the design of their app: from purely technical measures such as end-to-end encryption, or through careful informed consent about shared data and protection of people who are legally or functionally incapable of such consent. But from your statements you just want to blame the users because you disapprove of them. I'm sure you can do better than that.