The last time they came up with a regulation, we got that GDPR awfulness. Made zero impact on anything, just forced me to click multiple buttons before visiting a website.
So far as I'm concerned, the only single thing wrong with the legislation is that all the companies reacted to it by deciding to do whatever it took to keep collecting data they didn't strictly need.
Well, almost all.
GitHub doesn't show you that popup, because it doesn't collect unnecessary data. Neither does Hacker News.
Europeans have to register their address at all times with the government, need a passport to buy a SIM card, are prohibited from cash transactions above trivial amounts but at least they can contact the mandatory "data protection officer" and reject non-essential cookies!
Europe is not a single country. Nothing you said is true for every European country (or every EU country, if that's what you mean).
But (despite your confusion about the European identity) I must admit you have a point. I think there is a mentality difference - Americans (USAnians?) are OK with being tracked by corporations, but hate any kind of government power. In Europe it's usually the opposite.
The GDPR is a very good piece of legislation. I fail to see where the awfulness is. Even if you discount the very significant new rights it gave to users, it did force all companies to actually think and take responsibility for what they collect. It’s a massive improvement from what was happening before.
Its too asymmetric for what would be a genuine mistake. Good legislation is fair. It actually makes big companies like facebook stronger as well and harder to compete for small ones.
The easiest thing to do is actually just not offer services in the EU for a smaller company.
How so? Most of the rules only apply to companies of more than 250 employees or with large result and fines have always been applied with a lot of discernment. As usual on HN, I expect most people who complain about it to have absolutely no idea of what it actually is.
If you are selling to a large company it is a problem. Its not quite as simple as you're saying.
And quite frankly the law is also complicated as with all other EU laws such as the cookie law. The interpretations vary and are not strict and clear. I have never seen laws in other western countries always blamed on the lack of interpretation.
If I was still in the EU I would simply incorporate offshore and operate offshore, it is more convenient but ive left
> If I was still in the EU I would simply incorporate offshore and operate offshore, it is more convenient but ive left
You would still have to follow GDPR.
> The interpretations vary and are not strict and clear. I have never seen laws in other western countries always blamed on the lack of interpretation.
It's the same with every law. That's basically how laws work. It's even worse in countries using common law as case law is a thing.
> It's the same with every law. That's basically how laws work. It's even worse in countries using common law as case law is a thing.
It really isn't. If it wasn't such a butcher's shop with GDPR i wouldn't be complaining as i am aligned with the intent. Also hey for someone who's lived in both I much prefer the common law or mixed ways of creating law as it requires precedent first instead of it being made on a whim.
Yeah, the annoying notifications are the visible part... but as far as I know, GDPR has a pretty serious impact if you're European. It allows you to ask private companies to delete your data, which to me seems like a pretty huge privacy win.
Implementation could definitely be a lot better, but I think it protects Europe from the privacy hellscape that's currently happening in the US.
Keep in mind that the majority of those data processing consent banners aren't actually compliant - the GDPR has explicit provisions against dark pattern or the kind of malicious pseudo-compliance we often see.
The problem is that enforcement is severely lacking, thus most of those offenders actually get away with it.
The GDPR is anything but awful. For all I care they really clamp down on the next batch of violators, the law definitely has enough provisions to do that.
