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This was the first question on my mind as well. How will this affect the one-man webshop owner or software developer? Seems only big established firms will be a

This was the first question on my mind as well. How will this affect the one-man webshop owner or software developer? Seems only big established firms will be able to conform to this?

EMIRELADERO 3y ago
This question was asked a lot when GDPR came around, and it's essentially an implication that the regulator will act in bad faith. Courts and regulators, particularily European ones, understand when there's a "will" to follow the law. It's one of the differences between "rules-based" and "principles-based" regulations. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17100541 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17100541
- EtienneK 3y ago
  I don’t understand? So you should only in principle audit your Wordpress blog?
  - EMIRELADERO 3y ago
    Read the comment I linked. It's about the regulation being enforced with its principles in mind, not robotically through its strict interpretation.
  - troupo 3y ago
    Questions: - If you run a commercial kitchen on your own (or, let's say, with a staff of 2-3 people), can you ignore the food safety regulations? The fire regulations? - If you run a one-man plumbing company, can you ignore safety regulations? Water regulations? Sewage regulations? etc. Why is it than when it comes to "commercial software" it is inevitably "oh my god these laws are so hard, why should I as one-man company be forced to comply with them". Because that is literally your job.
    - galdor 3y ago
      In kitchens as in plumbings: - There are rules, and clear established practices that allow you to follow these rules. In software the rabbit hole goes so deep that your average developer cannot even be aware of all the risks. - You do not have to rely on millions of lines of code you have no control on. As a simple example, if you are using network communications, you are probably using OpenSSL, GnuTLS or one of the few other TLS implementations. All of them have regular security issues, and simply selling support on an Open Source software you built using one of them will make you liable for these issues. There is no choice: you need TLS, and you're not going to implement it yourself. What are you supposed to do? The fact that a solo developer selling 100€/month of support is treated the same way than a billion dollar company demonstrates the complete insanity of this act.
      - EMIRELADERO 3y ago
        > The fact that a solo developer selling 100€/month of support is treated the same way than a billion dollar company demonstrates the complete insanity of this act. But they're not treated the same way. Both by the law itself and the standards courts and regulatory agencies use throught Europe.
        galdor 3y ago
        The text of this act treat them the same way unless I'm missing something (feel free to point me the text saying otherwise). A sane legal text would put in place thresholds with different levels of expectations and liability depending on the size of the company, who you are selling to (companies or individuals) and its revenues, respecting the principle of proportionality.
        EMIRELADERO 3y ago
        The principle of proportionality is a mandate of courts and regulatory agencies too. You're implying that they would act in bad faith by putting all their might on small/one-person businesses, while it's just not the case with EU bodies.
  - arlcode 3y ago
    It means you will get treated differently whether you operate a one man show or a global conglomerate. Follow best practices and demonstrate that you care goes a long way (that has been demonstrated time and time again in courts throughout the union). Also it differentiates between what kind of product you are building (see the annexes). Most of the requirements (look them up) are best software dev practices unless you are in one of the specific "critical" categories of products. Then, to be honest I don't really care that you are a one person (commercial) shop when my car gets steered off the road because of a preventable security hole.
- hatenberg 3y ago
  And then there’s the real world issue of Abmahn-Factories in Germany.

This was the first question on my mind as well. How will this affect the one-man webshop owner or software developer? Seems only big established firms will be able to conform to this?

EMIRELADERO 3y ago

This question was asked a lot when GDPR came around, and it's essentially an implication that the regulator will act in bad faith. Courts and regulators, particularily European ones, understand when there's a "will" to follow the law. It's one of the differences between "rules-based" and "principles-based" regulations. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17100541 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17100541

EtienneK 3y ago
I don’t understand? So you should only in principle audit your Wordpress blog?
- EMIRELADERO 3y ago
  Read the comment I linked. It's about the regulation being enforced with its principles in mind, not robotically through its strict interpretation.
- troupo 3y ago
  Questions: - If you run a commercial kitchen on your own (or, let's say, with a staff of 2-3 people), can you ignore the food safety regulations? The fire regulations? - If you run a one-man plumbing company, can you ignore safety regulations? Water regulations? Sewage regulations? etc. Why is it than when it comes to "commercial software" it is inevitably "oh my god these laws are so hard, why should I as one-man company be forced to comply with them". Because that is literally your job.
  - galdor 3y ago
    In kitchens as in plumbings: - There are rules, and clear established practices that allow you to follow these rules. In software the rabbit hole goes so deep that your average developer cannot even be aware of all the risks. - You do not have to rely on millions of lines of code you have no control on. As a simple example, if you are using network communications, you are probably using OpenSSL, GnuTLS or one of the few other TLS implementations. All of them have regular security issues, and simply selling support on an Open Source software you built using one of them will make you liable for these issues. There is no choice: you need TLS, and you're not going to implement it yourself. What are you supposed to do? The fact that a solo developer selling 100€/month of support is treated the same way than a billion dollar company demonstrates the complete insanity of this act.
    - EMIRELADERO 3y ago
      > The fact that a solo developer selling 100€/month of support is treated the same way than a billion dollar company demonstrates the complete insanity of this act. But they're not treated the same way. Both by the law itself and the standards courts and regulatory agencies use throught Europe.
      - galdor 3y ago
        The text of this act treat them the same way unless I'm missing something (feel free to point me the text saying otherwise). A sane legal text would put in place thresholds with different levels of expectations and liability depending on the size of the company, who you are selling to (companies or individuals) and its revenues, respecting the principle of proportionality.
        EMIRELADERO 3y ago
        The principle of proportionality is a mandate of courts and regulatory agencies too. You're implying that they would act in bad faith by putting all their might on small/one-person businesses, while it's just not the case with EU bodies.
- arlcode 3y ago
  It means you will get treated differently whether you operate a one man show or a global conglomerate. Follow best practices and demonstrate that you care goes a long way (that has been demonstrated time and time again in courts throughout the union). Also it differentiates between what kind of product you are building (see the annexes). Most of the requirements (look them up) are best software dev practices unless you are in one of the specific "critical" categories of products. Then, to be honest I don't really care that you are a one person (commercial) shop when my car gets steered off the road because of a preventable security hole.
hatenberg 3y ago
And then there’s the real world issue of Abmahn-Factories in Germany.