WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities • Hacker News Board

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#421

Post by jamiequint » Wed, Dec 27, 2017, 7:22 PM UTC

vidarh wrote: post #331

jamiequint wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read the Privacy Policy where in the US and EU companies are required by law to say how they're using your data.

So, relying on governments to dictate rules to protect us, in other words.

Disclosure laws impose minimum negative effects on the end-businesses that are required to provide them, while being simultaneously beneficial for consumers. I think they are a good balance and end up being a net positive for society.

A strictly libertarian viewpoint would say that no disclosure should be required and you should just choose to avoid any service that doesn't provide full disclosure. After all, it's their right to not provide that information to you and it's your right to not use that service as a result.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#422

Post by jamiequint » Wed, Dec 27, 2017, 7:27 PM UTC

rmc wrote: post #417

jamiequint wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't your best choice when it comes to privacy to choose which services to use and which ones not to use, rather than relying on your government dictate rules they don't fully understand to companies which may put their entire business at risk? In other words, in terms of things you care about absolute data privacy may be #1 on your list, others may be willing to accept less privacy for an internet that can continue…

You're suggesting a free market approach. "Just don't use the service if you don't like the terms". That's fine. But there should be limitations on what people can sign away. You cannot agree to work for below minimum wage, and you cannot sell yourself into slavery, and you cannot sign away your personal data rights.

Please define "personal data rights". Should Best Buy not be allowed to know that you shop there and send you targeted offers based on what you've bought in the past? Should a group of department stores not be allowed to share anonymized customer purchasing data with each other? Why should this one particular thing be banned and enforced (by force) on businesses by the government? Is it actively harming society? If so, how?

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#423

Post by jimmytidey » Sun, Dec 31, 2017, 12:09 AM UTC

jimmytidey wrote: post #342

gradys wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, I agree, the EU legislates privacy to a degree that no other political entity does as far as I'm aware, but on the other hand, they often do so with poorly designed policies. As an example, I'd point to the cookie notices that appear on almost every major website, which must have absorbed, globally, many careers worth of man-hours to implement while offering virtually no real-world…

I think the cookie warnings might do something to get the idea of a cookie in consumer's minds. I also don't think you can think of developer time like that. Imagine how many caterers have gone into making websites work on IE6. Stuff like that happens.

*careers