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I don't think GDPR will prevent you from entering a contract where you sell your personal info and get paid in free access to services. It just prevents compani

by Lutger 4y ago

I don't think GDPR will prevent you from entering a contract where you sell your personal info and get paid in free access to services. It just prevents companies from doing so without your consent. Google and other could just provide ad-supported plans along with paid plans. The only goal of GDPR is to stop the theft of personal information, it doesn't dictate a business model.

anshumankmr 4y ago
In a roundabout way you are saying the same thing as the person you replied to. Not enough people are going to opt for that making ad supported plans unviable for a company that is expected to have round the clock all year long growth.
mrep 4y ago
I've seen conflicting opinions on this. Some people claim that is illegal but der spiegel gives me the option of free + personalized ads or paying + ad free but I'm also in the US so it may be different for people in germany.
eternityforest 4y ago
GDPR itself is mostly good although it goes too far in a lot of places. I'm all for full disclosure of what they collect, and for data portability, but I'm not a fan of right to deletion, or technical requirements on how you handle even trivial data. Plus, the GDPR doesn't allow tracking as a precondition for using the service. Which is needed for the law to mean anything at all, otherwise all the big companies would require it and you'd be disadvantaged if you refuse, but it does change the business model. It seems like an unsolvable problem, short of some kind of government funded subsidized open source equivalent of Google or something. The real trouble is from even stronger laws than the GDPR that many individuals want. I'm not exactly sure what the wording of those imaginary laws would be, but a huge number of people did not want Amazon Sidewalk to happen, especially as opt-out, many want tile/AirTag to stop, some people want CCTV to be totally gone, etc.

by Lutger 4y ago

anshumankmr 4y ago

In a roundabout way you are saying the same thing as the person you replied to. Not enough people are going to opt for that making ad supported plans unviable for a company that is expected to have round the clock all year long growth.

mrep 4y ago

I've seen conflicting opinions on this. Some people claim that is illegal but der spiegel gives me the option of free + personalized ads or paying + ad free but I'm also in the US so it may be different for people in germany.

eternityforest 4y ago

GDPR itself is mostly good although it goes too far in a lot of places. I'm all for full disclosure of what they collect, and for data portability, but I'm not a fan of right to deletion, or technical requirements on how you handle even trivial data. Plus, the GDPR doesn't allow tracking as a precondition for using the service. Which is needed for the law to mean anything at all, otherwise all the big companies would require it and you'd be disadvantaged if you refuse, but it does change the business model. It seems like an unsolvable problem, short of some kind of government funded subsidized open source equivalent of Google or something. The real trouble is from even stronger laws than the GDPR that many individuals want. I'm not exactly sure what the wording of those imaginary laws would be, but a huge number of people did not want Amazon Sidewalk to happen, especially as opt-out, many want tile/AirTag to stop, some people want CCTV to be totally gone, etc.