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I remember this. This started a wave of lobbying and PR campaigns from industry groups that lasted until ~2013 or so stating that the EU was going to use its l

I remember this. This started a wave of lobbying and PR campaigns from industry groups that lasted until ~2013 or so stating that the EU was going to use its leverage its power to "issue fines to extract the wealth of American tech companies because there aren't enough European ones". Worded more eloquently (though I can't recall exactly how, I think they may have said something about the "EU Technology Tax" or something as an allusion to this), but never the less, its what they were conveying This was targeted at gaining sympathy for the US government to intervene with the EU to make it more friendly for American tech companies, and more specifically, big ones. I wish I could find the webpage ads I saw around this. It was not a good look.

sebzim4500 3y ago
Isn't that basically what is happening though? The EU still doesn't have (almost) any big tech companies, and they still regularly issue 9 or 10 figure fines to US tech companies.
- josephg 3y ago
  > they still regularly issue 9 or 10 figure fines to US tech companies. Its not a conspiracy. US tech companies just keep blatantly disobeying EU law regarding personal data. A few years ago GDPR fines were so low many companies just paid them rather than comply with the law. It makes sense if the fines are much bigger now - large fines are (apparently) needed to bring companies to heel. If you want to avoid the fines, try complying with the law. I know people complain about the GDPR, but the requirements seems much less obnoxious to me than what adtech companies keep doing. I don't want facebook and friends to track me all over the web and sell that information to the highest bidder. I'm with the EU - these practices should be illegal.
  - earthboundkid 3y ago
    My problem is that GDPR/Cookie laws don't go far enough. If you can get out of the law by showing an obnoxious banner, it's not helping anyone. It should just be illegal to use behavior data to show ads to people, period. We had a systems that worked for 100 years based on general demographics, and they worked fine. Show me an ad based on the fact hat I'm reading TechCrunch, not based on the fact that I was Googling "broken lawnmower hand reach blade bolt safe??" two minutes ago.
    - kmeisthax 3y ago
      The obnoxious banner doesn't actually get you out of the law, in the same way that putting "no copyrights intended" into a YouTube video description does not make your reupload of Family Guy funny moments legal.
      - josephg 3y ago
        Yep. The frustrating part is the cookie banners aren't needed during regular operation in order to comply with the law. When cookies are used for login you don't need to pester the user to consent to their use. (Consent is implied when the user logs in.) Cookie banners are only needed when the website is doing something a bit dodgy - like behavior tracking for ads. Unfortunately, odious stuff is so ubiquitous that people think the banners must be necessary, and they blame the EU for insisting on popups instead of blaming the adtech companies for vomiting their crap into every website.
- jart 3y ago
  Even the Netflix TV show about that EU tech company that supposedly made a Google Maps competitor, turned out to be a group of patent trolls when I researched them and found out they were just using Stanford's code.

sebzim4500 3y ago

Isn't that basically what is happening though? The EU still doesn't have (almost) any big tech companies, and they still regularly issue 9 or 10 figure fines to US tech companies.

josephg 3y ago
> they still regularly issue 9 or 10 figure fines to US tech companies. Its not a conspiracy. US tech companies just keep blatantly disobeying EU law regarding personal data. A few years ago GDPR fines were so low many companies just paid them rather than comply with the law. It makes sense if the fines are much bigger now - large fines are (apparently) needed to bring companies to heel. If you want to avoid the fines, try complying with the law. I know people complain about the GDPR, but the requirements seems much less obnoxious to me than what adtech companies keep doing. I don't want facebook and friends to track me all over the web and sell that information to the highest bidder. I'm with the EU - these practices should be illegal.
- earthboundkid 3y ago
  My problem is that GDPR/Cookie laws don't go far enough. If you can get out of the law by showing an obnoxious banner, it's not helping anyone. It should just be illegal to use behavior data to show ads to people, period. We had a systems that worked for 100 years based on general demographics, and they worked fine. Show me an ad based on the fact hat I'm reading TechCrunch, not based on the fact that I was Googling "broken lawnmower hand reach blade bolt safe??" two minutes ago.
  - kmeisthax 3y ago
    The obnoxious banner doesn't actually get you out of the law, in the same way that putting "no copyrights intended" into a YouTube video description does not make your reupload of Family Guy funny moments legal.
    - josephg 3y ago
      Yep. The frustrating part is the cookie banners aren't needed during regular operation in order to comply with the law. When cookies are used for login you don't need to pester the user to consent to their use. (Consent is implied when the user logs in.) Cookie banners are only needed when the website is doing something a bit dodgy - like behavior tracking for ads. Unfortunately, odious stuff is so ubiquitous that people think the banners must be necessary, and they blame the EU for insisting on popups instead of blaming the adtech companies for vomiting their crap into every website.
jart 3y ago
Even the Netflix TV show about that EU tech company that supposedly made a Google Maps competitor, turned out to be a group of patent trolls when I researched them and found out they were just using Stanford's code.