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Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules

nytimes.com

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Re: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules

#31

Post by ginko »

sqdbps wrote: post #30
skummetmaelk wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>it's really a further effort to go after US tech companies That makes no sense. The rules are not different for US companies so how can it be an attack on them? >The social network has also kept out of Europe facial recognition software that tracks when photos of users are posted across the platform. Are you sad about this? If so, why?

> The rules are not different for US companies so how can it be an attack on them? That seems like a disingenuous question, the companies that are mainly impacted by these laws are US companies. It might theoretically apply to all companies but in reality they had a handful of US companies in mind when they wrote theses regulations. As for the impeded innovation question, yes I feel that something is lost when a "coo…

Facial tracking isn't "cool" and useful. It's creepy and dangerous and I want to be able to opt out of it.

Re: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules

#32

Post by sqdbps »

avianlyric wrote: post #28
sqdbps wrote: post #22

At first glance this seems like a solely pro privacy development but it's really a further effort to go after US tech companies with some nasty side effects: >Among their provisions, the rules enshrine the so-called right to be forgotten into European law Codifying a terrible ruling into law. >The rules also require anyone under 16 to obtain parental consent before using popular digital services It's like COPA but at…

I don't think this is a very well through out opinion of GDPR. GDPR applies equally to all companies that trade in Europe, not just US companies. So it's difficult to describe it as an attack on US companies. Additionally GDPR simply enshrines some pretty basic social norms around informed consent and transparency. It doesn't prevent anyone doing anything that's privacy invasive, it just requires that: 1) You tell pe…

As I've commented below it's disingenuous to say that GDPR applies equally to all companies when it was conceived with US tech companies in mind and is designed to alter their business models.

1) Some of the ideas in there are welcome.

2) When you put roadblocks in front of every data point it's difficult to develop a half decent pattern matching system. A consent prompt upon joining ought to suffice.

> technology companies are only suffering because in the past they have collected personal data indiscriminately on the basis that it might be useful some day

Perhaps, but the "might be useful someday" part is a route for many an innovation that I want to preserve.

Re: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules

#33

Post by yorwba »

Angostura wrote: post #20
roel_v wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way? Genuinely curious - what sort of technical work needs to be done that requires actually knowing the regulation? I'm asking because I got my law degree with the idea that I would combine tech skills with knowledge of the law, but I never really found an angle to make that work.

Why is trampypizza's answer to this marked as [dead]? It looks like a perfectly reasonable response, no?

Maybe a false-positive of the spam detector. If you go to the comment's own page ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16257086 ) you can vouch for it. (There might be a karma threshold for that, I'm not sure.)

Re: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules

#34

Post by sqdbps »

ginko wrote: post #31
sqdbps wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The rules are not different for US companies so how can it be an attack on them? That seems like a disingenuous question, the companies that are mainly impacted by these laws are US companies. It might theoretically apply to all companies but in reality they had a handful of US companies in mind when they wrote theses regulations. As for the impeded innovation question, yes I feel that something is lost when a "coo…

Facial tracking isn't "cool" and useful. It's creepy and dangerous and I want to be able to opt out of it.

I'm in favor of "opt out", I just don't want to eliminate the option.

Re: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules

#35

Post by sqdbps »

adrianN wrote: post #27
sqdbps wrote: post #22

At first glance this seems like a solely pro privacy development but it's really a further effort to go after US tech companies with some nasty side effects: >Among their provisions, the rules enshrine the so-called right to be forgotten into European law Codifying a terrible ruling into law. >The rules also require anyone under 16 to obtain parental consent before using popular digital services It's like COPA but at…

Hindering the kind of innovation that violates the citizen's privacy is pretty much the point of the law. A company having a database of my mental health status is incredibly creepy to me. As is the facial recognition thing.

There is a lot of good that can come out of a database on the mental health of a large population. I think you should be able to opt out of such collection but I'm not in favor of banning such collection altogether.

Re: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules

#36

Post by yorwba »

sqdbps wrote: post #34
ginko wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facial tracking isn't "cool" and useful. It's creepy and dangerous and I want to be able to opt out of it.

I'm in favor of "opt out", I just don't want to eliminate the option.

The GDPR is in favor of "opt in". It doesn't eliminate the option either, it just makes sure that people are allowed to make informed decisions about their data.

Re: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules

#37

Post by code4tee »

On the one hand this may help certain companies that focus on limited use of customer data thrive in Europe. On the other hand it’s one more tick against Europe for global companies deciding where to invest so expect to see some big downside for the region too as companies and investors focus elsewhere.

Re: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules

#38

Post by skummetmaelk »

sqdbps wrote: post #30
skummetmaelk wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>it's really a further effort to go after US tech companies That makes no sense. The rules are not different for US companies so how can it be an attack on them? >The social network has also kept out of Europe facial recognition software that tracks when photos of users are posted across the platform. Are you sad about this? If so, why?

> The rules are not different for US companies so how can it be an attack on them? That seems like a disingenuous question, the companies that are mainly impacted by these laws are US companies. It might theoretically apply to all companies but in reality they had a handful of US companies in mind when they wrote theses regulations. As for the impeded innovation question, yes I feel that something is lost when a "coo…

>the companies that are mainly impacted by these laws are US companies.

Any company who handles personal data is impacted. Facebook and Google are not the only ones which do. European online shops and banks also have to comply.

Just because Facebook and Google generate the most press on this issue doesn't mean it is an attack on them in particular. Privacy and data concerns are real societal issues. Tackling them is absolutely necessary and the EU is doing a good job by ruling that we own our data.

Re: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules

#39

Post by avianlyric »

sqdbps wrote: post #32
avianlyric wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this is a very well through out opinion of GDPR. GDPR applies equally to all companies that trade in Europe, not just US companies. So it's difficult to describe it as an attack on US companies. Additionally GDPR simply enshrines some pretty basic social norms around informed consent and transparency. It doesn't prevent anyone doing anything that's privacy invasive, it just requires that: 1) You tell pe…

As I've commented below it's disingenuous to say that GDPR applies equally to all companies when it was conceived with US tech companies in mind and is designed to alter their business models. 1) Some of the ideas in there are welcome. 2) When you put roadblocks in front of every data point it's difficult to develop a half decent pattern matching system. A consent prompt upon joining ought to suffice. > technology co…

I think this law will force people building AI's and ML systems to innovate more and be more thoughtful of how they use peoples data.

Companies like DeepMind are already showing that collecting every data point under the sun is unnecessary, and that ML systems can be built with privacy in mind. Anyone that can't be bothered to put the effort in can, quite frankly, die at the hands of the market.

Re: Tech Giants Brace for Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules

#40

Post by camus2 »

code4tee wrote: post #37

On the one hand this may help certain companies that focus on limited use of customer data thrive in Europe. On the other hand it’s one more tick against Europe for global companies deciding where to invest so expect to see some big downside for the region too as companies and investors focus elsewhere.

> On the one hand this may help certain companies that focus on limited use of customer data thrive in Europe. On the other hand it’s one more tick against Europe for global companies deciding where to invest so expect to see some big downside for the region too as companies and investors focus elsewhere.

What global tech company can really afford not to be in Europe? Google? Facebook? Twitter?

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