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USA needs law 'a lot like GDPR' says Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

theregister.co.uk

11–20 of 231 posts

Re: USA needs law 'a lot like GDPR' says Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

#11
post #2

I think this has been discussed before - The whole foundation of SalesForce is absolutely tracking every inch of a user, who you were what whitepaper you downloaded, where you're from, which stage of the funnel you're in, which industry you belong to, what's your company size, what's its revenue and the list goes on.. So, this is pretty ridiculous coming from a CEO of such a company, but hey, any publicity is good pu…

You need a lot of software to manage and track consent, plus the history of all interactions for audit purposes.

GDRP forces usage of a CRM.

Just like every complication of tax law benefits HR Block, TurboTax, etc.

Re: USA needs law 'a lot like GDPR' says Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

#12
For big companies, this is a small problem to implement. For small companies, it's a big problem.

I am all for protecting the consumer but GDPR is going too far with what I would call optics rather than actual consumer protection. I.e. things that look and sounds like they are protecting the user when they are really just adding more bureaucracy to the companies.

Re: USA needs law 'a lot like GDPR' says Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

#13
post #3

A consumer protection law like GDPR would probably be a good thing for US, but it's hard not to see this as SFDC saying, "As a multibillion-dollar SaaS vendor, we welcome regulation that might slow down or prevent a competitor from unseating us."

That's exactly what this is. GDPR is untenable and creates magical rights where none exist. You don't own information about you. Data is data. The only reasonable thing I can see out of it is getting companies to clarify (simplify) their EULAs.

Re: USA needs law 'a lot like GDPR' says Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

#14
post #3

A consumer protection law like GDPR would probably be a good thing for US, but it's hard not to see this as SFDC saying, "As a multibillion-dollar SaaS vendor, we welcome regulation that might slow down or prevent a competitor from unseating us."

Like I said the last time this subject came up, fine. That's totally fine. I don't care which incumbents will be okay in a world with better laws around privacy. I want better laws around privacy.

If your startup to unseat Salesforce requires doing tricky or infelicitous shit with my personal data, I don't want you to be able to operate, full stop. Your business shouldn't exist, if its existence requires schlepping or selling my data in a bad way.

The rights to privacy that some new laws could give us is simply more important than that.

Re: USA needs law 'a lot like GDPR' says Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

#16
He is right. This has been a long time coming.

Your stupid hot take about how he’s not practicing what he preaches, or how this is bad for innovation, or how better ads are a good thing, doesn’t matter. this is the most important piece of tech legislation at least since the dmca and it’s a courageous jump forward with some kinks that will get worked out.

Re: USA needs law 'a lot like GDPR' says Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

#18

For big companies, this is a small problem to implement. For small companies, it's a big problem. I am all for protecting the consumer but GDPR is going too far with what I would call optics rather than actual consumer protection. I.e. things that look and sounds like they are protecting the user when they are really just adding more bureaucracy to the companies.

While I agree with you I'll add another...

For a new company that hasn't built the product yet this is a small(ish) problem to implement. New products can bake in privacy thinking directly from the first line of code.

Who gets hit the hardest by this are small companies with legacy systems. Who don't necessarily have the budget to dive into the legacy stuff.

Re: USA needs law 'a lot like GDPR' says Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

#19

Can we just take a step back and admit that treating an IP address as personal information is patently ridiculous?

how about instead, we err on the side of privacy instead of billion dollar companies that don’t pay taxes for once.
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