undefined | Better HN

0 pointsnickpp2y ago0 comments

> Why are so willing to blame the law for something that the industry is doing

When a whole industry (and, mind you, pretty much any business with a website, not just those selling ads) reacts identically to a law is either a conspiracy or I can safely blame the law for that.

I live in EU and my employer has a cookie banner even if never storing any private data nor having any ads on the website. Just for Google Analytics. But GDPR is so bad that the lawyers advised us to have the cookie banner just to be safe.

0 comments

troupo2y ago

> reacts identically to a law is either a conspiracy or I can safely blame the law for that

Or the whole industry either doesn't care and relies on consultants like OneTrust to provide them with "GDPR Compliance" or know exactly what they are doing.

> Just for Google Analytics. But GDPR is so bad that the lawyers advised us to have the cookie banner just to be safe.

See, you're just parroting others (and your lawyers) even though in the last 6 years you could've read the law yourself.

You couldn't even show me where the law requires these dark patterns and selling of your data to the highest bidder out of hundreds of data brokers.

The reason your lawyers told your company to implement the banner is because your company is responsible for the data it transmits to third parties. And you've decided to use Google Analytics which collects significantly more data than is strictly required, and is a third party.[1]

"Oh mu god this bad no good law requires us to be careful with user data boo hoo"

[1] And is also problematic due to Cloud Act (US) and Schrems II (EU)

nickppOP2y ago

So - let me get this straight - a whole industry does something in response to a law, something consultants and lawyers advise and approve of, but - you know better. You understand the law better than them, you understand their business better than them, you know their tools better than them.

Who are you then?! Are you a consultant? A lawyer? A business owner? Can you even show me in the law the accepted patterns for simple, common usage scenarios like analytics? Then for all the less commons scenarios for each business? Are you willing to guarantee your advice with your money? Can a business come to you and sue you if your advice was faulty and they got fined by one of the distributed institutions enforcing GDPR in any of the EU countries?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse