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0 pointsdownandout7y ago0 comments

but, at the risk of rabbit-holing, your suggestion would be a pretty fundamental change to how the web works. in effect, you'd be moving toward a splintered web, where content is basically region locked.

I think you're spot on, but that was the danger of implementing heavy-handed legislation like GDPR all along. I believe that EU citizens are going to find themselves locked out of a whole world of content. But that's the world they've chosen to create for themselves. Further, if the overwhelming support that GDPR has on HN is representative of that of the entire EU population, they welcome this newly splintered world and its consequences - both good and bad (though I believe that this support is the product of the mistaken belief that the world will simply play ball and be dictated to by the EU, rather than the rest of the world simply taking their ball and going home).

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freehunter7y ago

Hmm. I'm not sure about that. If Apple and Google won't pull out of China even though China makes them do all sorts of business stuff they disagree with, I highly doubt they (web companies) would pull out of the entire EU.

It would be absolutely incredible if Facebook et al "took their ball and went home" throwing away 500 million customers.

jonas217y ago

Google did effectively pull out of China in 2010 [1].

But in the case of the GDPR, it probably helps Google and Facebook more than it hurts them -- they can afford to jump through all of its hoops while smaller competitors might have trouble. It's essentially a barrier to entry.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_China

downandoutOP7y ago

Of course not, because Apple, Google, Facebook et al have the resources to spend millions on attorneys to implement the GDPR. My comment comes from the perspective of an operator of several small sites that get a total of a few million visitors per month combined. I'm not spending millions on attorneys, and EU traffic is only incidental to my sites anyway, so I am indeed taking my ball and going home.

This will make a difference for some users on some of the forums I run, as they will be banned with an apology and an invitation to come back if they ever move out of the EU. But it's not worth taking on the liability of potentially millions of dollars in fines for accidental non-compliance with a heavy handed, massively complex law that is up for different interpretations in the courts of no less than 28 unique countries. Unless you're in the EU or are a multi-billion dollar company with a large legal department, accepting EU traffic post-GDPR is an act of insanity.

KozmoNau77y ago

Are you hosted in Europe, and/or do you do business from the EU?

No? Don't bother instituting a stupid ban like that, then. And stop scaremongering.

GDPR applies to businesses.

Besides, compliance isn't too bad for something like a forum. Just purge the relevant user records and posts, if requested to or when a user deletes their account.

Source: I am doing GDPR compliance on web applications for a major telco.

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michaelmrose7y ago

You seem to have complected extensive indiscriminate data collection with simple advertising and the more fundamental point of connecting and serving people.

You can use a combination of advertising and payment to fund services that connect people and facilitate commerce without extensive privacy destroying data collection. This model worked fine previously and it will work fine in the future. If anything hardware and tools are damn near amazing compared to the bygone past.

I struggle to think of any service in the world that is impossible or even challenging to replace. If anyone decides to take their ball and go home they will be replaced by a competitor who will use that extra revenue to improve their positions in other market to the original fools detriment.

There is in fact no reason to believe other markets including the US wont ultimately discover the merits of protecting their citizens privacy considering that in the US perhaps 171k work in the advertising industry out of 300 millions.

How the 0.02% can do an effective job without trampling the rights of the 99.98% is an exercise I leave to them and if they can't figure it out, then I hope the food stamp program still exists so they wont have to stand outside 7-11 with placards reading "will lie for food".

KozmoNau77y ago

>"the mistaken belief that the world will simply play ball and be dictated to by the EU, rather than the rest of the world simply taking their ball and going home"

And leave millions and millions in profit on the table for everyone else?

That the same argument used against changing the tax codes so companies would actually have to pay taxes in the countries in which they do business, by closing the loopholes.

They're not going to throw away profitable markets just like that. And if they do, good riddance.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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freehunter7y ago

It would be absolutely incredible if Facebook et al "took their ball and went home" throwing away 500 million customers.

jonas217y ago

Google did effectively pull out of China in 2010 [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_China

downandoutOP7y ago

KozmoNau77y ago

Are you hosted in Europe, and/or do you do business from the EU?

No? Don't bother instituting a stupid ban like that, then. And stop scaremongering.

GDPR applies to businesses.

Besides, compliance isn't too bad for something like a forum. Just purge the relevant user records and posts, if requested to or when a user deletes their account.

Source: I am doing GDPR compliance on web applications for a major telco.

1 more reply

michaelmrose7y ago

You seem to have complected extensive indiscriminate data collection with simple advertising and the more fundamental point of connecting and serving people.

KozmoNau77y ago

>"the mistaken belief that the world will simply play ball and be dictated to by the EU, rather than the rest of the world simply taking their ball and going home"

And leave millions and millions in profit on the table for everyone else?

That the same argument used against changing the tax codes so companies would actually have to pay taxes in the countries in which they do business, by closing the loopholes.

They're not going to throw away profitable markets just like that. And if they do, good riddance.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse